The Customer Experience Should Be a Love Story

I love Brand X, but it’s more expensive than Brand Z.

Which brand will I buy?

Lockdown changed consumer behavior

The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns drove us online. We worked from home. We shopped online. We Zoomed our family and friends.

We had no choice. Our behavior changed, along with our expectations. And, because a business is nothing without customers, brands had to meet our new demands. A streamlined purchasing process, personalization, the human touch. A good customer experience.

As we emerge from lockdown, customer-centric brands are rising to the top. With consumers that are still nervous, confused, and looking for support, brands that built that emotional connection during lockdown will enjoy brand loyalty and brand love.

Show customers you love them and they’ll love you back

Love your customers at every stage

My company’s Brand Love Story 2021 report (download below) listened to and analyzed over 2.6 billion conversations and found the 11 methods used by the top 50 brands that found love, even in lockdown. Our analysis period covered July 2020 to April 2021.

11 methods used by customer-centric brands.

For me, what’s clear is that while the top 50 brands used different strategies to engage with consumers, all the methods are geared towards giving a good customer experience.

Cooking up a storm of love

Moulinex and sister company Tefal both benefited from the home cooking trend during lockdown. But being in the right place at the right time isn’t always enough. There are many cookware producing brands that didn’t make our Brand Love Story.

Home baking mentions peaked in March 2020, with the topic still driving about 100K mentions per week.

Moulinex

Bored and frustrated at home, consumers turned to home baking. Social media was flooded with bread recipes and cooking experiments.

While influencers and users shared videos of how to make and bake, visual mentions of brands increased, with Moulinex taking the lead.

حلا الساندوتش pic.twitter.com/Zunq1SoDXU

— طبخه (@kwtqq8) September 23, 2020

Image and video recognition detect brand logos with or without a text mention.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity to promote its brand, while offering help to consumers, Moulinex started sharing recipes and articles on their social channels.

Yes, it was promotion, pure and simple. But, because it was done in a sympathetic way, giving consumers what they were searching for, the brand earned engagement and love.

Another CX winner is Group SEB’s – Moulinex’s parent company – CSR strategy, the fight against global warming. Having corporate social responsibility creates a positive brand image in the mind of consumers, increasing loyalty and brand advocacy.

Tefal

Customer service teams were often at the frontline during lockdown, with consumers limited by lockdown and unable to visit stores for help and advice. Tefal, rather than use its social media channels to sell its products, concentrated on helping customers.

Not the best strategy for increasing positive engagement, but it strengthened the emotional connection between brand and customer, and love blossomed.

Tefal also cooked up positive PR when it provided essential equipment to hospices and hospitals during the pandemic.

Influencers make up your mind

Influencers have long played an important role in a marketing strategy. Almost 50% of consumers look to influencer recommendations when deciding which product to buy. Marketers like influencer marketing because it delivers 11X higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing.

During the pandemic, already working online and blessed with large, engaged audiences, influencers were perfectly placed to provide infotainment – content that entertains and informs – and promote brands.

Two of our loved brands used several methods to create winning customer experiences…

M.A.C. Cosmetics

This year, our Brand Love Story 2021 saw a predominance of cosmetic brands using snackable influencer content. It looks great. It makes consumers feel good. Delivery doesn’t break the bank.

Lisa's birthday is just getting started ! Respond with your best birthday wishes – so she can start cutting this iconic cake . #MACLovesLisa pic.twitter.com/69oZwgJ0HV

— maccosmetics (@MACcosmetics) March 26, 2021

This post alone collected 64.4K engagements.

M.A.C. Cosmetics ranked 24th in 2020. This year it made the top 10 with its infotainment strategy. Partnering with Lisa – a.k.a Lalisa – from South Korean girl group BLACKPINK, our data shows that 9.2% of M.A.C.’s mentions and 9.15% of engagements from the analysis period came from its association with Lisa.

The partnership was announced in October 2020, as indicated by the spike of brand mentions.

Urban Decay

Urban Decay incorporated several methods when promoting its brand – influencer marketing, trend engagement, and an engaging social media strategy.

Ranking 37th in last year’s report, the brand leapt into the top 10 in 2021 with a campaign in keeping with their tag “Girls and boys who want to rattle the notion of what beauty is and put their stamp on it.”

Urban Decay teamed up with Monsta X, a South Korean boy band, to support their value that makeup is for everyone.

During our analysis period, the announcement drove the biggest peak in engagement.

Why am I happy to pay more?

While Brand Z is cheaper, the customer experience isn’t great. The website is slow to load and navigation is a nightmare. I receive emails that I’m unable to unsubscribe from, yet receive no response when I ask questions. Also, Brand Z has missed the mark with regard to inclusive messaging. So what, you may say. If it’s cheaper, go for it.

I may have done in the past, but now, having received a great customer experience from many brands. Brands that value me as a customer, I want that with every business I deal with. And yes, I’m prepared to pay more.

Love you Brand X. See you again soon!

Download my company’s Brand Love Story 2021 to see our top 50 brands using 11 methods to create a winning customer experience.