No surprise. When people can rely on a good experience interacting with you, you get a brand bursting with value. Yet, how much do you control? Because an experience is always in the now. Yep, the moment right then. And here comes another one, in a constant, unstoppable stream of...
When Michael Garcia bought drinks at a Starbucks drive-through in February 2020, one of the venti-sized cups of scalding hot tea fell into his lap. He claimed the lid was loose and the cup wasn’t properly wedged into the drink carrier. The resulting third-degree burns to his private parts required skin...
When organisations talk about customer loyalty, what do they mean? Mostly some mix of how frequently and over what period someone buys a product or service. In all cases there is some kind of (usually) monetary trade happening. And modern definitions certainly focus on faithfulness as the cornerstone attribute. Earlier meanings...
Alongside experience, positioning is one of the customer elements storing value in a brand. Because no matter what you care about, how that turns into the products you sell, or how well-known your company is. You need to know what it is. During a recent Knowledge Project podcast, guest April Dunfordsaid, “I think...
Loyalty is in the news. Not for a fuzzy feel-good program designed to woo customers as repeat spenders. Instead, IAG is subject to a class-action lawsuit by Slater and Gordon. The suit charges that the insurer used AI to target long-standing customers to hike their premiums because they were ‘loyal’ and less...
This started as a different article about the elements that make up an experience. But after rumbling them and examining what organisations do and don’t control, I realised the details are less important than how they turn into value. Which led me back to promises. In the hands of organisations, experience is...
A recent experience got me thinking about how inconsistent delivery of unheroic stuff is a surefire way to lose customers and erode the value stored in the brand. The story began when I opened my 2024 car insurance policy. My jaw dropped. After ten years with the same insurer, I’m used...
"Instead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts." Alain de Botton Travel always reveals… something. A recent trip reminded me of the importance of getting the essential things right. No matter what your business does. There is one thing that is...
This week, a client inadvertently stepped into the crosshairs of a few very unhappy customers, and I had a front-row seat to the unfolding foray. What happened had me reaching into my archives for this 2019 article. Because we're all customers of something. And every day, we see yet another story of...
At a recent event, I suggested, "Experience is a bridge value crosses into and out of your brand." And while in my brand formula, I couple it with promises. For this article, I'm focusing on the specific role experience plays in people's day-to-day activities. First used in the 14th century, with Latin...