{"id":6900,"date":"2018-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prodim2020.wpengine.com\/tools-avoid-brand-erosion\/"},"modified":"2020-09-17T14:21:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:21:54","slug":"tools-avoid-brand-erosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/blog\/tools-avoid-brand-erosion\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Steps and Tools to Avoid Brand Erosion During Organizational Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This is a chapter from the ebook,\u00a0<\/em>Unlock the Value of CX. You can download the entire book\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most organizations strive to ingrain in their employees a set of\u00a0organizational values–behaviors and attitudes–that are the guiding\u00a0principles for all employee actions. These values are often expressed\u00a0as brand promises–statements about what an organization is, what it\u00a0stands for, and what it will deliver to its customers.<\/p>\n

Brand promises can be\u00a0implied as well as expressed, if customers are used to a particular level of\u00a0service based on their previous interactions with the company.\u00a0Brand promises work best when they are realistic and actionable, targeted\u00a0to the organization\u2019s customer base and clearly linked to every customer\u00a0interaction across the organization.<\/p>\n

Meeting Brand Expectations at Every Level<\/h2>\n

The ability to meet brand promises at every customer interaction,\u00a0however, eludes too many organizations. Brand promises are often set\u00a0from the top of the organization and performance metrics for executives\u00a0are often tied to them. However, when it comes to brand behaviors\u00a0being practiced at the point of customer interaction, the results are not\u00a0always consistent or satisfactory. This causes some customers to leave the\u00a0interaction disappointed and frustrated.<\/p>\n

The problem is often magnified in companies undergoing changes.\u00a0As organizations grow, they often reach a state where they develop\u00a0competing priorities such as, a need to cut spending to reach profitability\u00a0targets or a mandate to introduce a new product or benefit.<\/p>\n

Executives often fail to question whether changes across the organization\u00a0will impact their ability to deliver on the existing brand promise. The\u00a0impact is not limited to marketing or product functions. Changes to\u00a0any function should be considered in terms of its downstream customer\u00a0impact. Every function, from marketing, product, risk, operations and\u00a0finance to human resources and compliance, has a role in fulfilling\u00a0the brand promise. Each function must own its impact on the\u00a0customer experience.<\/p>\n

Take for example, a bank\u2019s underwriting department. As a result of a\u00a0recent audit, is now required to perform manager-level reviews of a greater\u00a0percentage of applications prior to approval. If the leaders collectively\u00a0fail to ask for more underwriting managers, the approval timeline for\u00a0applications will increase, and the trickle-down impact will likely be\u00a0severe. If the product and marketing teams at individual branches are not\u00a0informed about this change, customer complaints will begin to build and\u00a0customer satisfaction will suffer.<\/p>\n

Seven Strategies to Prevent Brand Erosion\u00a0During Organizational Transformation<\/h2>\n

The solution requires ownership by the entire organization. Below are\u00a0seven strategies to avoid setting brand promises that are untenable and\u00a0avoiding brand promise erosion when organizational changes happen.<\/p>\n

1. SET THE TONE FROM THE TOP.<\/strong> Brand promises are often built by\u00a0a chief marketing officer or branding executive in conjunction with a\u00a0branding agency. However, every executive function should be involved\u00a0in this effort to confirm the positioning is feasible. Once alignment exists\u00a0around the brand promise, the CEO must set the tone. It is imperative\u00a0for employees to be empowered to deliver on the brand promise at every\u00a0customer interaction.<\/p>\n

2. APPOINT A CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER.<\/strong> A chief customer officer is part\u00a0marketer, part ombudsman, part efficiency expert and part operations\u00a0expert \u2013 and fully committed to the customer journey. The best CCO is\u00a0often someone experienced across various functions who can support\u00a0the customer journey design from multiple perspectives. This customer\u00a0champion must be willing and able to converse with peers from across the\u00a0organization to ensure alignment with the brand promises, develop and\u00a0lead efforts to assess impacts on the customer journey, and influence every\u00a0other function to achieve the end goal of delivering the brand promises.<\/p>\n

3. DESIGNATE A CUSTOMER COMMITTEE.<\/strong> It is common for organizations\u00a0to have corporate committees, often aligned with executive functions, to\u00a0support efforts ranging from compliance to risk to finance. A customer\u00a0committee, consisting of cross-functional senior executives, will similarly\u00a0support the customer experience effort and provide it with the emphasis\u00a0it deserves.<\/p>\n

4. ENGAGE IN CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING.<\/strong> Create a cross-functional\u00a0team consisting of product, marketing, risk, technology, operations,\u00a0finance, human resources and other key functions to engage in exercises\u00a0that map the actual customer experience. This may include what\u00a0customers are trying to do, what they are feeling, what is going on behind\u00a0the scenes in operations and technology, what moments of surprise,\u00a0delight or unnecessary friction exist, and which interactions meet or fail\u00a0to meet the brand promises. Then, develop a target customer journey that\u00a0meets the brand promises with the appropriate level of friction, and chart\u00a0a road map to achieve it. Think about the impacts on people (customers\u00a0and employees), process, product and technology. The customer journey\u00a0map should be owned by the chief customer officer and each key\u00a0stakeholder in the journey. It should be updated each time a change to\u00a0people, process, product or technology is considered.<\/p>\n

5. MEASURE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND CLOSE THE\u00a0FEEDBACK LOOP.<\/strong> Many, if not most, organizations have invested\u00a0in customer satisfaction monitoring of one type or another and\u00a0implemented scoring methodologies with which to keep track. However,\u00a0monitoring alone won\u2019t move the needle on customer satisfaction.\u00a0The keys to the success of customer satisfaction monitoring are 1)\u00a0implementation of a feedback loop, and 2) understanding drivers behind\u00a0changes in macro-level satisfaction scores. Qualitative information\u00a0about a poor experience (a low score) from a customer is an indicator\u00a0that something has gone wrong. When multiple survey responses are\u00a0similar, that\u2019s an indicator that a process is broken. It is important that\u00a0organizations not only monitor feedback but also assign owners of the\u00a0feedback loop for each key step in the journey. When a customer provides\u00a0negative feedback, the journey owner must reach out to the customer,\u00a0acknowledge the issue and commit to a response. They must then\u00a0investigate, engage in internal communication, develop a plan to rectify\u00a0problems (if needed) and follow up with the customer.<\/p>\n

6. DEVELOP CUSTOMER SATISFACTION METRICS ACROSS THE\u00a0ORGANIZATION.<\/strong> Companies should develop meaningful and consistent\u00a0customer satisfaction metrics for employees that tie directly to\u00a0compensation. A technology metric, such as system uptime for example,\u00a0does not correlate to customer experience. Although system uptime is\u00a0clearly a requirement for customer satisfaction, it is too narrow. Rather,\u00a0develop organization-wide metrics that apply to all employees and allow\u00a0them to relate the requirement to their own tasks.<\/p>\n

7. LEVERAGE INDEPENDENT TESTING.<\/strong> Independent testing is crucial\u00a0to ensure what you have prescribed is actually occurring. Independent\u00a0testers should be given tasks tied to discrete journeys and asked to\u00a0report back on exactly what happened and how they felt as a result of the\u00a0experience. Additionally, testers should provide a fact-based method for\u00a0comparing the interaction against the journey map and brand pillars, as\u00a0well as qualitative feedback that uncovers gaps between the experience\u00a0and the brand promises.\u00a0Achieving excellence in customer experience is a result of every employee\u00a0living the organization\u2019s brand promise. Getting there requires significant\u00a0enterprise-wide commitment, including the implementation of the\u00a0steps listed above. In return it can reap significant rewards in the form\u00a0of satisfied customers, happier\u00a0employees, greater revenues and\u00a0improved profitability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This is a chapter from the ebook,\u00a0Unlock the Value of CX. You can download the entire book\u00a0here. Most organizations strive to ingrain in their employees a set of\u00a0organizational values–behaviors and attitudes–that are the guiding\u00a0principles for all employee actions. These values are often expressed\u00a0as brand promises–statements about what an organization is, what it\u00a0stands for, Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[94],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-6900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-brand-experiencebrand-loyalty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6900"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=6900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}