In a recent CX Leader podcast episode, Don’t let your brand make false promises, Steve Walker and I revisited the importance of aligning brand promises with actual customer experiences. We talked about what stuck with us from an earlier webcast on the topic, made Peter Dixon‘s ears burn, and called out more evidence of how the momentum to align CX and brand continues to build. (We’re looking at you and smiling, Janey Whiteside.)
We also talked about some tangible ways that CX leaders can make sure customers are actually having experiences that walk the brand talk. Tune in to the podcast for more on who’s doing it well, and read on for some quick tips.
4 WAYS TO WALK THE BRAND TALK
- Learn – Know what your brand promises are. Know who in your company 'owns' the brand. Reach out to learn more and integrate what you learn with your CX vision and directives. Collaborate to close gaps and create advantage.
- Establish Principles – Call them CX Principles, Service Principles, Brand Principles, whatever. Define a few touchstones that will connect the brand to the experience and serve as reminders of what customers expect from your company. Transparency, guidance and seamlessness are some common customer needs. Engage customers in this process, which may build from your journey map.
- Activate Promises – Don’t just make a pretty poster; put those principles to work – in how you gather insights from customers and in what you do with those insights. This ARRIS case study is a great example of how a technology company made a promise to adopt a human point of view then demonstrated a commitment to that promise through their Voice of Customer initiatives.
- Design Experiences – Rethink and reshape experiences deliberately so that they reinforce the brand. Think about breakthrough change. Adopt techniques like the Sprint methodology to bring rapid innovation into the mix and move from ideas to impact more quickly.
<This post was first published on the CX Advantage blog.>