Great Brand Building Depends on Customer Delight, Not Customer Satisfaction

Calvin L. Hodock

Professor of Marketing, Berkeley College

 

There are two extreme segments for every brand—apostles and terrorists.  Apostles are so enthusiastic about the brand that they are like unpaid salesman for the company, spontaneously telling others about the company and recommending them to it.  Terrorists are so angry about he company’s perceived lack of performance that they actively bad-mouth it and advise others not to buy.

 

Many marketing experts argue that in today’s business environment, faced with increased competition and buyers looking for the best values, companies have to do more than satisfy customers.  They have to delight them.  They have to try to convert as many as possible to apostles.

 

A delighted customer is defined as one who views the company or brand performance as exceeding expected performance. Planes arrive on time.  There are no long waits at the Hertz or Avis counters. This is expected performance.

 

When Richard Branson launched his airline, Virgin Atlantic, he sought to do more than meet expected standards of performance and service.  His goal was to delight customers by making their travel romantic and exciting.  He pioneered video screens behind every seat.  Beauty therapists and a tailor were an occasional treat for passengers.  Chauffeured service to the airport was offered to business class passengers and champagne and birthday cakes for special occasions.

 

For years, Brooklyn Union gas delighted their utility customers by putting a postage stamp on the return envelope used by them to mail in their utility bills.  This single act generated more delight and goodwill for the brand than millions of dollars of advertising.  While the company name has changed to KeySpan Energy, their utility customers still talked about the thoughtfulness of the postage stamp in group sessions.  Customer delight builds trusted relationships.

 

Every company has at least 30 and possibly up to 100 brand touchpoints that past, current and future customers, employees and other stakeholders are experiencing on a daily basis.  These range from advertising to coupons to marketing partners to customer service representatives to the monthly bill.  Each brand touchpoint is an opportunity to achieve customer delight.  Are companies achieving customer delight with telephone menus that go on forever, tedious waits on help lines, and unhelpful advice when customers finally talk to a human being?

 

Customer delight at brand touchpoints is the way to take control of relationships with customers and stakeholders.  It is the only way to build trust and brand loyalty.  However, it is easier said than done.  About two years ago Business Week cited the services grades for four well-known hardware/software companies:

 

         Gateway               C

Dell Computer        C

Intuit                   D+

Symantec             D+

 

Conclusion:  Not good enough.  We live in a service economy with very little service. That’s very far removed from achieving customer delight.