Brands Deliver Customers


Brands Deliver Customers; Being On-Brand Keeps Them Coming Back

A strong brand has power in that it motivates customers toward a positive response or specific action. The Postal Service's television ad on International Priority Mail appealed to Janelle at both these levels and delivered her to the post office to try the new product. This is the positive end result of successful marketing efforts. Some marketing specialists, in fact, live by the premise that perception is reality and that a well-constructed brand promise can be the basis for such a strong and compelling advertising image that nonaligned service delivery can be overlooked.

We have seen many firsthand examples of companies that clearly, and quite intentionally, promised something they were in no position to deliver in the near future. The belief that an organization can acquire market space simply by creating perceptual leads is pervasive in some industries, particularly the fast-moving technology sector. Many high-tech companies appear to have a strategy of capturing customers through exaggerated advertising and sales promises. They hope customers will remain loyal after they have purchased—regardless of how far the company is from delivering what it has enticingly promised. As someone wryly pointed out, "Microsoft does its beta testing on the whole world's population!" Unfortunately, since so many of the giant technology companies do this, the public is forced to endure it.

We agree that a strong brand promise can influence what customers remember about their experiences with a product or service. However, this well-documented advertising placebo effect can be easily overridden by negative service experiences. New product introductions must be managed very delicately or they may severely compromise trust and integrity in the brand and produce customers who fully understand the advice "Buyer beware." Such marketing disasters also create cynical, dissonant employees.

The automotive industry has struggled to get dealers to deliver the experiences they hint at in their emotionally appealing advertising. Shopping for a car should be a lot of fun since there is nothing quite like the thrill of owning a new car. Yet for many people, going through the process is painful. Many women never do it primarily because of the way they are treated.

Saturn has achieved a high degree of success in its attempts to brand itself as a car company that offers a different shopping experience. It has done this by first understanding the market segment it wants to attract, then designing a brand look and advertising to support the message, and finally reinforcing an unusual brand promise through its service delivery.

One of Saturn's most striking brand pledges is "hassle free." To Saturn this means you will not have to haggle over prices or wonder if someone who bought a car two hours before you got a better price because he or she bargained with the dealer. Here is how Saturn describes its brand promise on its Web page:

Creating a "No-Hassle, No-Haggle" sales policy wasn't intended to create a revolution, just to solve a problem. We don't like getting the runaround any more than you do, which is why we set out to be honest and straightforward with our customers. We just thought it was a good idea and that if there were more people out there like us, we'd do okay. Turns out, we were right. Over the years, consumer research has shown repeatedly that our customers rate Saturn top in sales satisfaction.

Good thinking on Saturn's part! The Gallup Organization, the polling company, reports that customers are ten to fifteen times more likely to buy their next brand of car from a specific dealer if they perceive that dealer to be different from "all the other dealers." [1] Even if buying a car is a good experience, if it is generic and undistinguishable, it will do little to enhance a specific brand image. "Different from all others," such as a guaranteed no-haggle sales policy, is brand reinforcing—especially when it is delivered so customers can count on it as part of their service experience.

[1]As reported in the London Sunday Times, May 12, 2002.




Branded Customer Service(c) The New Competitive Edge
Branded Customer Service: The New Competitive Edge
ISBN: 1576752984
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 134

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net