Canadian Marketing Blog

Brand experience versus customer experience

Recently I was having a conversation with a good friend regarding ‘brand experience’ versus ‘customer experience’. What I thought would be a 10 minute conversation turned into an hour long debate!

After our discussion, I tried to think back on what sparked this debate. It may have had something to do with me saying, “brand experience is really part of the total customer experience”. Not to mention my friend is a brand manager at a fortune 500 company and my company, Delvinia, is focused on architecting digital customer experiences.

Anyhow, I won’t get into all the details however the main point of our discussion was that brand experience and customer experience both effect a consumer on an emotional level. The big difference however, is customer experience is broader. Wikipedia defines customer experience as “the quality of the experience as apprehended by a customer resulting from direct or indirect contact with any touch point of a company, including marketing, branding, customer service, support, in-store experience, product design, service or Web site, etc. Customer experience in this broader sense also includes "User Experience", which as the name suggests, is concerned with, and limited to, direct usage of a product.” Whereas the brand experience touches the product, look & feel, communications and service.

Ok fine, so there are differences, and I believe the customer experience very important, but really what is the end goal here? Is it not to make our customers happy so they continue to use our product or service? I mean really, is not that simple? Let the debate continue.

Thought provoking! I just started browing Google to read some people's thoughts on Customer Experience and came upon this. My thoughts for what they're worth.. I'm not sure I'd look upon brand experience as a narrower part of the wider customer experience... If anything, for me, the overarching brand 'design' of an organisation should provide guidance and input to the definition and creation of the desired customer experience...what happens when they touch, feel, make contact etc

I guess I see every single 'experience' a customer has with an organisation, it's people, products, services as their customer experience...which is tied directly back to their overall brand experience.

Maybe you could look upon the customer experience as being simple as the implementation of the brand objectives. 'Stamping the Brand' so to speak.

Ultimately though, I agree with the sentiment. Structure the internal processes, definitions, workshops and naming conventions however you like. Ultimately, it's about a clear, concise and consistent experience for the end customer, which, if done well, aligns with the goals and objectives of the organisation in question.

And surely every organisation wants a happy customer!

I'm sure I'm rambling by now.. anyway. Interested to get people's views.

I would think that brand experience is the broader of the two. A brand is essentially the perception that is built at every 'touch point' a person has with your company, idea, product, etc. It can be direct or indirect. It can be a customer or someone who has just heard something about your product. Whatever the case, these points of contact contribute to your brand.

In my view, the Brand is the promise to the market....in other words, what do we promise you will experience with our products & services, at every channel or touch point.

The Customer Experience is the intent or action on which that promise is kept. It is the ability of an organization to put into action at every touch point, through every interaction, the realization of that Brand Promise. It is a series of moments of contact or moments of truth that allow your customers to experience the Promise.

Couldn't disagree with you more. But to be even, i also disagree with your friend. Brilliant customer experiences should be an experience of the brand. You have to dimensinoalize and operationtlize your brand in all aspects of the customer experience.

There should be no different in them at all.

If you are thinking that brand is anything narrower than everything you do as a business, then you are seriously mistaken. "To make a customer happy so they continue to use your product or service" as the end goal? This is a naive view. Products and services can be easily replicated by competitors... a simple added function and where's the loyalty? Brands create emotional stickiness and lasting advocacy. And besides, "customer" experience only relates to one of a brand's several stakeholder groups... "Brand Experience" also encompasses "employee experience", "supplier experience", "shareholder experience", "journalist experience", and so on.