Many moons ago Jo, one of our Client Managers, found herself working alongside Shaun Smith, he of ‘Uncommon Practice’ fame – a book which pays tribute to those delivering great service through exceptional brand experiences. Despite the years that have passed since its publication, if he were to update and republish we’ve no doubt he’d be calling on some of our iconic clients to illustrate why brand and customer service still matter so much to success in business. Maybe he should?

We  customers

“Customers are at the heart of everything we do.” Slips off the tongue nicely doesn’t it? We hear it a lot. And for the most part it’s true – albeit often within a myriad of systems and procedures that happen to have been designed with the business in mind, but not necessarily the customer. The other thing we hear is, “We want all our customers to have the same positive experience.” The ‘holy grail’ of any super-brand surely? But, in this brave new world of multi-channels and big data it’s expected that the information we share will be seen as a chance to offer a more personalised service and better value. Distinction as a brand in today’s market is about analysis and continual iteration.

The future is now

It’s a proposition that deserves attention, offering an exceptional customer experience is by no means a new phenomenon, but there seems to be an ever growing demand for a telepathic service – knowing what it is we want and need even before we do.

This just happened to be top of the agenda at a recent away day we ran for the tech team of an organisation with an impressive global digital presence. We explored the potential of ‘data driven personalisation’ in terms of the organisation and how leaders could use this knowledge to influence communication and collaboration across the business. Compelling stuff!

Why use one logo when you can have 1.4 million?

As a result, those companies at the cutting edge are constantly reviewing customer interactions and adapting experiences to specific needs, as is the case with Atom Bank – a totally digital, customer ‘obsessed’ bank.

Atom absolutely don’t want their customers to all have the same experience, as good as that may be. Instead they’re looking at how to make each encounter unique to that individual.

‘Besides choosing a personalised logo, customers will also have their own personal colour palette which drives the visual experience when using the app. They can also call the bank what they want to – within reason – such as Jenny’s Bank or Peter’s Bank.’

‘We want to be highly personal and demonstrate at every point that it’s about the customer, not us. We’re a customer-obsessed organisation.’
Chief Marketing Officer, Lisa Wood

Obviously the proof is in the delivery, and as market research consultancy Trinity McQueen state, getting personalisation wrong can have serious consequences; 1 in 4 consumers in their survey say they have already had a negative experience of personalisation and for 81% of them, it had an impact on their perceptions of the brand.

Nonetheless, the concept itself should challenge how we think; especially when it comes to inspiring and encouraging teams to refute convention and instead become creative pioneers. Not only in terms of brand and customer, but right across the spectrum.