Customers & Experiences

I’d like to start by saying that a customer will always evaluate or prefer a brand based on his/her personal experience with the brand. So when a customer goes into a store, and he gets to use the products he’d just bought – he gets to evaluate each brand he’d just had contact with. In marketing, this is referred to as “touchpoints”- moments where customers have personal contact with a brand that will help them develop their own impression of the brand. So the product, packaging, price, sales personnel, they’re all touchpoints for the customer. So, in the end I guess it really doesn’t matter what other people think about the brand, or what the brand itself communicates to it’s target market…what really matters is what the customer experiences with the brand – based on it’s performance, quality, what it means to her/him – and the connections he/she makes with it.

Brands constantly try to reinforce their personal image and try to do all it takes to maintain their promise. That way if a brand like Wal-Mart promises saving money, customers will expect to find lower prices at Wal-Mart than at any other supermarket. But it’s up to Wal-Mart to make sure that they’re delivering their promise, so they can keep their customers satisfied…without forgetting to consider that they (Wal-Mart) should create a good, positive and rich full experience for their shoppers, so that they return and shop at Wal-Mart.

I was trying to come up with an example of my own experience with a brand, and I just couldn’t decide on which one to write about, since I’ve had a lot of experiences with several brands. But, well, I guess Apple is the first I thought about. I remember that about 4 or 5 years ago, all of my friends started buying their first Mac laptop. They were so excited with it- they talked about Itunes, Iphoto and I just didn’t understand what they were talking about. I knew I wanted one, but I’ve just had a year with my old one- it was a VAIO. However, my parents gave me for that Christmas a mini Ipod – my first Apple product…I just loved it! It did more that I would’ve expected it to do. I could transfer all of my songs to that mini machine, and update it any time that I’d want. I used to take it to the gym, to run, in my car, when I’d travel…and the coolest part was, that it was cool and fashionable. I couldn’t wait to get now my Apple laptop. The next year, I asked my parents for one, so I went with my dad to the Apple store to buy it. The store was so cool! It had many desks with all the Apple products, and you could just go and try for yourself the several features each different model had. When I made my decision, a sales personnel told me all about the warranty, and the service they gave for free to the Apple customers- the genius bar. I was truly excited; I couldn’t wait to use my new Apple laptop. I knew I would have a difficult time on getting used to it- ‘cause I knew it was very different from the others computers – but to my surprise, I only took about a week. I’ve been very satisfied with Apple ever since, now I’ve got the new Ipod, Iphone, and I’m hoping to upgrade my laptop to the newest version.

I think that in Apple’s case, it’s more about just their products, it’s about the philosophy it has and the experience it creates for its customers. As a marketer, I know that for example their slogan of  “Think different”- it’s a strategy from Apple of creating a way of thinking- experience. You, as a customer know you’re getting something cool, modern and different by buying one of Apple’s products. Also Apple creates an experience for the customer when they go to their store – they let you use their computers, they have a genius bar for technicians to help you, the employees use cool t-shirts with phrases like: Advisor, Ask me anything, How may I help you, etc. So all of these things help customers develop an overall experience with Apple’s brand.

For customers, it’s all about the experience (when it comes to a brand). This is why we see thousands of people buying Starbucks coffee everyday – ‘cause when a brand creates all this new and positive experience for the customer, a customer is willing to prefer or give more value to the brand, because of what IT means to him/her. Starbucks isn’t just a cup of coffee, it’s a place where you can get really good coffee, excellent service- good personnel, cool sofas, cool music- and a place where you can just chill out.