How do you develop a brand promise that truly meets customers’ expectations?

Defining a compelling brand promise is important for any organisation committed to driving increased loyalty from its target customer base. A brand promise is not an advertising strapline, it is a description of what your customers can expect from your organisation. Its purpose is to drive executive decisions, align employees, shape your customer experience and your brand strategy. In this article we explore how you can develop a brand promise that is delivered consistently to customers at every interaction.

Defining your promise

The first step in defining your Promise is to fully understand what your customers really value, both now and in future. As we discussed in our recent article about Customer Insight, too much of the customer research we see is not ‘fit for purpose’ in the context of developing a future focused, competitively distinct brand promise that changes customers’ buying behaviour.

As with other strategic decisions, senior management must shape and approve the promise so it is thoroughly brought into, as it must drive all of the company’s investments in people, processes, technology, products and delivery channels. This always involves some lengthy, robust debate, but what should result is a clear statement of what your company will be known for over the coming two to three years.

A lot has been written about brands with ‘purpose’ and how they are increasingly trusted and favoured by consumers. A good example of such a brand is Nike that promise “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world” *if you have a body you are an athlete. Nike’s promise looks beyond its sports clothing and products to how it can empower anyone to feel like and be an athlete. This sporting inspiration and innovation can be experienced at every interaction, from Nike’s training apps, website imagery to its in-store employees and advice.

Nike “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.”

Your proposition should be actionable, aspirational and trustworthy in order to create a solid foundation for any customer experience strategy.

Making your promise come alive

With your promise defined, the next step is to identify what needs to happen at each customer touch point in order to deliver the promise in a way that is unique to you and which dramatizes the essence of your brand.

It is this essence that is likely to turn your customers into advocates of your brand. Many consumers may not be aware of a company’s brand promise word for word, but what consumer are very aware of is the impression a brand gives and what the brand stands for. Google’s brand promise “Access to the world’s information in one click” may not trip off your tongue, but no doubt it matches your expectation and your experience of Google by the way they make it come alive in their service delivery.

“Google – Access to the world’s information in one click”

To make your promise come alive your customer touchline must be analysed to identify which processes, products and services must be improved to deliver your brand promise, to make every action to your customer count in building your brand.

Making an emotional connection

The unique approach that your brand promise gives should make an emotional connection with your customers, helping you put your business beyond the reach of your competitors. The end goal of any promise is to move beyond mere ‘satisfaction’ and to deliver an experience that builds both a functional and an emotional connection with customers every day at every interaction.

If you would like to develop your companies’ brand promise and customer experience strategy and put this into real business practice, contact John Aves today on +44 (0) 7850 603 723 or email – johna@cp2experience.com