THE HIGHLIGHTS
Ethics matter: Closing the customer expectation gap
A session at the Festival of Marketing focused on the gaps between consumer expectations and what brands are delivering – but also, crucially, what can be done about it
Understanding customer expectations is, of course, key to fostering and maintaining long-term loyalty. That was the advice delivered at the Festival of Marketing by Niyi Duro-Emanuel, SVP, strategy and transformation lead at Merkle, who shared the results of a recent survey by the customer experience transformation company.
This study asked consumers to identify why they choose brands, and what impacts the decisions they make when they buy a product or engage with a service. Worryingly, it found that, while 60% of consumers say they want to be ‘heard’ by businesses, only 14% of this same group feel that they are understood.
Meanwhile, the accelerating pace of change impacts our expectations of the companies that we work for and the ways in which we interact with each other: “Customers today expect a lot more when they interact with brands. If you’re not able to adapt, to be agile in the way you communicate or show up for customers, that will impact your ability to keep up.”
Merkle’s study also highlighted the importance of trust, with three in five consumers revealing that trusting a business with their personal data is very important to them. “This is also about the responsible use of that data. What value are you going to give to me in return for me providing you with my data? There needs to be a value exchange,” said Duro-Emanuel.
Sponsored by merkle
Merkle's Niyi Duro-Emanuel on data strategy
Relationships to be cultivated
To this end, measurement is critical. A focus on “measuring what matters” can, in this way, enable a brand to align company goals to values, said Duro-Emanuel. But to do so, measurement strategies need to be “strategically linked, actionable and goal-orientated”.
With loyalty today resting on “far more than just price and promotion”, siloed organisations risk delivering disconnected experiences. The starting point must be a shared value exchange and then the “building out” of the experience – something which is nearly impossible to do well without a single customer view.
What’s more, the survey showed that the expectation gap between brands and consumers is even more pronounced for younger consumers, who favour differentiated experiences.
Duro-Emanuel concluded: “It’s about understanding who your customers are, listening to them, and using that information to build your experiences… Your core data asset is a really important part of that: it’s the first step towards really understanding the motivations of your end users, in order to remain relevant to both your customers and your employees.” ◆
“It’s about understanding who your customers are, listening to them, and using that information to build your experiences.”
— Niyi Duro-Emanuel, Merkle
What also came through “loud and clear” in the research was the importance of loyalty, he added. In fact, more than three quarters of consumers said that not being rewarded for loyalty is “a bigger turn-off than a price increase”. Ethics matter a great deal, too, as does the way a brand treats its employees, while “consumers want shared values to be lived rather than just talked about”.
And so, in order to close that expectation gap, businesses need to start thinking about their interactions with customers and employees as relationships – relationships that can be cultivated and that must be valued, with each interaction representing an opportunity to create an elevated experience. Underpinning all of this is data, which can help businesses to identify any problem areas or areas for improvement as they set out to deliver differentiated experiences.