Customer centricity is a common theme emanating from the C-suite these days. When you combine that with the rising impact that social media can have on a brand, a sound approach to brand management is to identify the most common episodes that can impact brand perception and to take a cross functional approach to managing them – quickly and thoroughly. But just as quickly as they develop as a brand perception weakness, they can be transformed into a brand perception strength. It’s also the blueprint of how management of these recurring episodes can be transformed for the better. But perhaps support in itself is hard to figure out how to access – this could stem from website issues that the digital marketing team could be required to help address. Whether and how quickly the software maker responds has dependencies on that same digital marketing team as they are often responsible for social media listening. And if something does go wrong, they will do what it takes to turn you into a recurring customer. The emphasis of rallying around these episode moments transform “never again” feelings into “maybe again” feelings. A great challenge that Barro astutely pointed out is that resolving many poor customer experiences requires contributions from different organizational units, or “lines.” Companies tend to be organized in silos that are built for specific functions, or lines of business, and this weighs down a company’s ability to deal with issues that have cross-functional dependencies. Developing a customer experience unit that includes representation from the disparate lines or departments within a company is the episode combat strategy that can quickly turn poor customer experiences into brand perception successes.
Customer centricity is a common theme emanating from the C-suite these days. When you combine that with the rising impact that social media can have on a brand, a sound approach to brand management is to identify the most common episodes that can impact brand perception and to take a cross functional approach to managing them – quickly and thoroughly.
Jason Barro, a Partner with the Customer Strategy & Marketing practice at Bain & Company, covered the topic at the recent Qualtrics X4 Experience Management Summit in Salt Lake City.
Lost baggage, a missing part, a software function that cannot be figured out or a room with the wrong size and configuration – whatever the episodes are, every organization has them. The episodes that occur again and again that can eat away at a brand’s perception.
These episodes are often weaknesses that spawn in seconds – starting with customer disappointment. But just as quickly as they develop as a brand perception weakness, they can be transformed into a brand perception strength.
Taking weaknesses head on and with enough vigor to turn them into actual strengths is a great recipe for both improvement and success. It’s also the blueprint of how management of these recurring episodes can be transformed for the better.
When a software company customer is having fits over figuring out how to do a specific function, there is a tendency to chalk it up as simply a support issue. But perhaps support in itself is hard to figure out how to access – this could stem from website issues that the digital marketing team could be required to help address. Or it could be an issue in the user interface of the product itself – more of a product team issue.
Whether and how quickly…
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