Despite the impressive changes in technology and accessibility, customers are feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied by brands that fail to exceed their expectations. Due to these evolving expectations, brands are continually playing catch up. This presentation aims to provide insight on: – Why customer expectations have drastically increased – What this means for brands – How brands can meet customer expectations

1. 4 WAYS BRANDS
CAN EXCEED
CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
APRIL 2015

2. “EVERYTHING IS
AMAZING RIGHT NOW
AND NOBODY IS HAPPY.”!
– LOUIS C.K.
View the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEY58fiSK8E

3. Despite the impressive changes in technology and accessibility, customers
are feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied by brands that fail to exceed their
expectations.
Due to these evolving expectations, brands are continually playing catch up.
This presentation aims to provide insight on:
Why customer expectations have drastically increased
What this means for brands
How brands can meet customer expectations
INTRODUCTION

4. WHY DO CUSTOMERS
EXPECT SO MUCH?

5. THE CURRENT SITUATION
“Customer expectations have increased by 28%. Meanwhile brands have only managed
to improve their ability to satisfy customers’ expectations by 7%.”
The Annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index by Brand Keys measures brands
ability to meet customers growing expectations better than competitors. The survey
analysed brands in 64 categories chosen by customers in North America.
Source: IEEE Spectrum

6. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE RESULTS?
1. Customers want an emotional engagement with brands
2. Customers are on the hunt for new brands that will meet their needs
With the proliferation of new devices being bombarded onto customers everyday,
customers have grown to expect the brands they interact with to adapt at the same
speed.
Customers have the channels of communication at their fingertips to share their
experiences. Experiences which will reach their entire network.
Brands are falling behind in the knowledge and resources that their customers hold and
will evidently create either brand advocates or antagonists through the level to which
they satisfy their customers.

7. RELEVANCE
TARGETED
& PERSONAL VALUE
SPEED
FLEXIBILITY OF
INTERACTION
CHOICE
CUSTOMERS BELIEVE
THE PERFECT CHOICE
EXISTS
TECHNOLOGY
DEVICES TO ENHANCE THE
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE

8. WHAT DOES THIS
MEAN FOR BRANDS?

9. “UNJUSTIFIED TECHNOLOGICAL EXPECTATIONS”
With the constant flood of new devices, customers not
only expect brands to integrate these devices into
customer experiences, but also expect these devices to
perform perfectly.
How can you ensure devices are enhancing your
customers’ experience?
!
1. TECHNOLOGY
Source: IEEE Spectrum

10. USHUAIA IBIZA BEACH HOTEL & HARD ROCK HOTEL IBIZA
Two Ibiza hotels have integrated
technology seamlessly to ease their
customers experience.
The wearable device replaces both
the room card and the customers
credit card to remove the nuisance
when customers want to ‘party, dine
and relax during the summer
season’ but need carry their wallet
while they do so.
http://www.psfk.com/2014/04/hotel-wearable-bracelets-worry-free-stays.html

11. JOHNNIE WALKER SMART BOTTLES
Johnnie Walker is connecting the bottle of
whiskey to your smart phone through the use
of NFC and printed chips on bottles.
The app will tell the customer if the bottle
has been opened, as well as provide
personalised promotions and
communications.
This layer of technology ensures
a level of authenticity across the supply chain
and allows customers to connect with the
brand during consumption.
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/ourbrands/infocus/Pages/diageo-and-thinfilm-unveil-the-connected-smart-bottle.aspx

12. “CHOICE SEDUCES THE MODERN CONSUMER AT EVERY TURN”
Customers are faced with an abundance of choices
to make in virtually every product and service category.
How can you compete with niche and specialist players?
2. CHOICE
Source: The Economist

13. Tesco’s South Korean store
Homeplus, created a Virtual Subway
Store which gives Koreans (the
second hardest working people in
the world) the choice of when and
how to do their shopping.
It allows customers to utilise
wasteful time waiting for a train, to
do grocery shopping and have it
delivered to their door.
HOMEPLUS VIRTUAL SUBWAY STORE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJVoYsBym88

14. Warby Parker has aligned the
benefits of brick and mortar
stores with those of online stores.
‘Home Try-On’ and ‘Virtual Try-On’
provide the customer with the
same array of choices they would
be offered in store. These features
present the customer with the
convenience of choosing when
and how they shop whilst still
replicating the in-store
experience, online.
WARBY PARKER
https://www.warbyparker.com/

15. “IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE A FUTURE 10 YEARS FROM NOW WHERE A
CUSTOMER COMES UP AND SAYS, ‘JEFF I LOVE AMAZON, I JUST WISH YOU’D
DELIVER A LITTLE MORE SLOWLY’. IMPOSSIBLE.”
!
Customers want to interact anytime they want.
We have a plethora of products and services that can be
available to us at the drop of a hat...literally.
!
How can brands meet customers ‘need it now’ attitude?
3. SPEED
Source: Jeff Bezos

16. THE ICONIC
The Iconic has revolutionised
customers expectations in
regards to delivery.
They have taken last minute
shopping to new realms,
allowing 3 hour delivery
within Sydney and Saturday
morning deliveries for last
minute weekend outfits.
http://www.theiconic.com.au/

17. INSTACART
Instacart enlists couriers to hand
select and deliver groceries to its
customers within an hour.
The app allows customers to select
products from large supermarket
chains as well as smaller
independents.
It has managed to replicate same-
day and 3 hour delivery that
consumer goods retailers provide and
pushed it to the grocery industry.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2015/01/21/americas-most-promising-company-instacart-the-2-billion-grocery-delivery-app/

18. “YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT ME, BUT WHAT AM I GETTING IN RETURN?”
!
Customers want targeted and personalised value back
from the data they provide.
How do we ensure we are providing customers enough value
in return for their data?
4. RELEVANCE
Source: DigiDay

19. SOSH
“What should we do?”
Sosh aims to answer this question for its
database of customers by using their
preferences and interests to recommend
activities.
Sosh Concierge, “the Uber equivalent for
dining”, allows its customers to dine at
exclusive restaurants, no advance booking
required, with prepaid menu options.
This plays on exclusivity that customers
desire and removes the less appealing
transaction conducted after your meal.
http://sosh.com/

20. GILT
Gilt is an online retailer ensuring
each aspect of the customer journey
is personalised
- 2,500 versions of daily sales
emails
- Gilt concierges offering personal
shopping for top tier members
- ‘Your personal sale’ suggests sale
items based on previous
purchases, geographic location
and browsing behaviour
http://www.gilt.com/

21. CARVALHO HOSKEN: THE SOCIAL HOME TOUR
Carvalho Hosken revolutionised the
impersonal and repetitive task of
home tours by integrating aspects of
the customers personal life into the
display home.
By requesting Facebook access this
allowed the real estate agent to
leverage data on their interests and
personal photos.
Customers were greeted by a home
pre populated with moments from
their own life and even their favourite
food delivered to end the tour.
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/campaigns/carvalho-hosken-the-social-home-tour.html

22. HOW CAN BRANDS MEET
CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS?

23. SHAPING OUR EXPERIENCES
When we see and hear of brands doing and creating amazing experiences
for their customers, using the latest technology, leveraging relevant data,
providing their customers with choice and doing all this at incredible rates,
these shape our expectations.
We take one experience from an industry and expect this to rollout across all
brands in all industries. The bar has been set in our minds of what can be
achieved, so why can’t all brands live up to these expectations?

24. “THE FIRST STEP IN EXCEEDING
YOUR CUSTOMER’S
EXPECTATIONS IS TO KNOW
THOSE EXPECTATIONS.”
Source: Roy Hollister Williams

25. WHAT DO CUSTOMERS WANT?
Brands need to go beyond the satisfied customer and towards the brand
advocate. A customer whose expectations have been truly surpassed that
they want their entire network to experience the same feeling.
We want personal experiences.
We want our expectations to be exceeded.

26. Based on the work of Abraham Maslow & Stephen P. Anderson
THE “CONVENIENT CHASM”
(few rise above this point)
EXPERIENCES
(people, activities, context)
TASKS
(products, features)
Objective/Quantifiable
Subjective/Qualitative
A memorable experience worth sharing
Can be used without difficulty
Is available and accurate
Works as programmed
Super easy to use, works like I think
Has personal significance
PLEASURABLE
USABLE
RELIABLE
FUNCTIONAL (USEFUL)
CONVENIENT
MEANINGFUL
THE EXPERIENCE HIERARCHY

27. THE EXPERIENCE HIERARCHY
There is a divide between where customers and brands are situated on the pyramid.
When we consider the four factors that are shaping customers experiences and the
select brands who are leveraging these influences, we can understand why
customer expectations are set so high.
Customers want personal and memorable experiences worth sharing. However,
many brands are stuck at the bottom of the pyramid doing the bare minimum not
to disappoint customers but just to keep them satisfied.
As Apple’s Angela Ahrens said, “I don’t want to be sold to when I walk into a store.
Don’t sell! No! Because that’s a turn-off. Build an amazing brand experience, and
then it will just naturally happen.”

28. TIPS FOR MARKETERS
TECHNOLOGY SPEED CHOICE RELEVANCE
- Identify the most
popular devices that
customers use to
interact with your
brand.
- Technology should
never be the idea,
but rather the
enabler to an idea.
- Every touchpoint in
the customer
journey should aid a
seamless transition
to the next stage.
- Understand when
fast delivery and
service, although
costly, will lead to
loyal customers.
- Identify the niche and
specialist brands you are
competing with.
- Provide your customers
with reason, beyond
product offering, to
choose you.
- Identify the most
convenient way
customers want to
interact with your brand.
- Understand your
customers behaviours
and how they interact
with you across all
touchpoints.
- If customers are
providing you with their
personal data, use it to
create a better
experience for them.

29. STEP 1: REVIEW
CUSTOMER DATA
WHAT CAN YOUR BRAND DO NOW?
STEP 2: CUSTOMER
RESEARCH
STEP 3: AUDIT
CHANNELS
STEP 4: DEVELOP
STRATEGY
Analyse existing data to
identify how your
customers behave and
what they want.
Data around how
customers interact with
every touchpoint will
result in efficient
customer research.
Gain first-hand feedback
straight from customers
through methods like
surveys.
Customer research will
provide insight into brand
perceptions and market
expectations.
Understand customer
behaviours by
analysing the efficacy
of all touchpoint –
particularly when it
comes to technology,
speed, choice and
relevance.
An audit will identify
gaps where the
customer experience is
not aligning with
expectations.
Develop a strategy that
will address customer
experience gaps identified
in the audit and customer
research insights.
A strategy with clearly
defined actions will
ensure that your brand
can work towards
delivering better customer
experiences that surpass
customer expectations –
across technology, speed,
choice and relevance.

30. “OWN THE CUSTOMER
MOMENT. TURN DATA INTO
INSIGHT, TURN THAT INSIGHT
INTO ACTION. FINALLY, UNITE
BRAND AND EXPERIENCE.”
Source: Carlton Doty

31. THANK YOU
For more information please email
dt.melbourne@dt.com.au
!
dt.com.au
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