If customer satisfaction means meeting or exceeding expectations, we should ask why companies measure satisfaction without considering what they actually promise their customers. But what is promised to customers, and by whom?
Your brand promises all kinds of things to existing and potential customers across a wide range of channels. Sometimes this is done consciously and intentionally, aligned with the values of the company, its culture, its people, and its real services and products.
Not infrequently, however, the "promise" of a brand is simply outsourced to creative and professional advertising agencies. But are the employees of these creative shops the ones who serve the customers day after day and take care of their needs and problems? Probably not, or rather: certainly not.
In other words, a brand is a promise of a specific customer experience that the brand delivers consistently. It is something the brand does for the customer, or something it triggers in the customer: mentally, emotionally, or physically. This brand promise creates a corresponding customer expectation, long before the customer has any personal contact with the brand's products or services.
But never forget: a brand is not something theoretical. It is not a marketing employee, and it is not the expensive face of your campaign. The brand is you, all of you: your company, your employees, your products and services.
Do you have to deliver a top-level experience to every customer in the future? No, you do not. It is perfectly fine to offer an average customer experience, as long as that is exactly what you have promised. But if you promise more, you must deliver more.
Take a practical example: when you book a flight with a low-cost airline like Ryanair, you know what to expect. Service will be basic, there is no free meal on board, but you paid less for the ticket. Ryanair is 100% authentic. If, however, you book with one of the "traditional" airlines, such as Lufthansa, and you are then offered only very basic service, you will feel cheated and dissatisfied.
Do you remember the slogan of Praktiker (a German DIY and home improvement chain)? It was "Geht nicht, gibt's nicht" (roughly: "Nothing is impossible") and soon became widely known. In January 2006 it was replaced with "Hier spricht der Preis" ("Price does the talking"). Why?
According to Praktiker: "The new slogan should clearly define what differentiates Praktiker from the competition. That is the focus on price." Board member Karlheinz Kockmann saw this as a consistent reduction to what matters most. Maybe it was also because of a simple fact: if you promise more, you must deliver more.
Here, "Geht nicht, gibt's nicht" was probably hard for every employee in every store to live up to. Or as the psychologist Ruth C. Cohn once put it: "Not everything that is true needs to be said, but what I say must be true."
So Praktiker put price front and center, because that can be controlled centrally and the store teams only have to post it. That works, and it works every time. Unfortunately, not very successfully, as the news about the company's development showed.
A press quote from December 2012: "...At the discount DIY chain Praktiker, the price is talking, but in the future customer service will have more to say: in January, the financially struggling Praktiker Group will close a large portion of its DIY and home improvement stores in order to completely rebuild them by the end of February with a larger investment. New stores will open under the name Max Bahr, a service-oriented premium brand of the Praktiker Group, with packing assistance, logistics staff and customer advisors." Aha! So, more service after all. Prices were apparently not low enough for customers, and over time margins for the company became too thin.
Authenticity creates credibility, and credibility creates trust. What company would not want its customers to trust it?
University professor James H. Gilmore describes three scenarios: "If you are authentic as a brand or company, you do not need to say 'We are authentic - we are real'." "If you say you are authentic, then you must be authentic." And: "It is easier for a brand or company to be authentic if it does not say it is authentic."
No organization is perfect, and no company can provide a flawless customer experience in every moment, through every employee. But that does not mean you should not strive to offer your customers the best possible experience. Even more importantly, if something truly goes wrong, you should make it right quickly and completely. Not only should you: you must. Having the courage to admit that something went wrong, instead of getting lost in excuses, helps and increases your authenticity.
In short, authenticity is not a fixed point; it is a path you choose deliberately. Step by step, you define what authenticity means for you and express it to customers through planned, authentic, and company-wide integrated experiences. Why? Because customers do not want to hear and see your intentions, "we are this or that, we do this or that." Customers want to experience those brand promises in reality.
