Creating lasting brand loyalty through connected content experiences

A connected customer experience is essential for creating lasting brand loyalty. According to Dentsu Creative’s recent CMO report, “79% of CMOs agree that brands today are built through experience”. The impact of ‘experience’ on brand and customer loyalty is huge, and brands should be looking at connecting the customer journey at every touchpoint to create a holistic experience.

An experience is no longer siloed into simply ecommerce or in-store. Content is all around us and feeding into our perceptions of brand from every interaction. With so many channels at disposal, from in-store to livestream and everything in-between, brands must create a customer journey that joins the dots between content and commerce to deliver an impactful customer experience.

How does a connected customer experience build brand loyalty?

In a world of increasingly fragmented customer journeys, brands must act as the glue that holds the customer experience together. The customer experience should be seamless and consistent across the entire journey, in a way that benefits good customer service whilst strengthening brand identity.

The path to purchase should be frictionless, whether the customer is engaging online, in-store, or through a combination of channels. A holistic and transparent overview of customer journey touchpoints allows brands to understand where to add value to the customer at each point along their path to purchase. By adding additional value at various touchpoints throughout the entire experience, brands can build customer loyalty.

Multi-channel or omni-channel

There key difference between creating an omni or multi-channel experience is independence. Multi-channel can mean that the path from customer awareness to purchase occurs on one channel, and that each channel will have its own strategy and objectives. Meanwhile, omnichannel implies that the experience is cohesive and interlinked wherever the customer makes contact, and that they will cruise between channels.

The concept of a connected customer journey is not new. In this age where digital and physical blend in our day-to-day lives, there is an expectation on brands to have a connected experience across all channels. An omnichannel strategy requires agile and adaptable content to create a more seamless overall experience.

How to build a connected experience through content

Content plays a huge role in the brand and customer experience. The right content must be on the right channel at the right time for the right customer in order to create moments of connection that build brand loyalty.

Map out the content journey

It is crucial to understand the different paths to purchase and touchpoints the audience has with the individual brand. Whether they’re entering the journey through a social media platform or are connecting with a digital POSM in-store, each touchpoint plays a part in dictating the content that is send out.

Create agile and scalable content

As well as originating and adapting content across channels and platforms, brands should develop agile and adaptable content strategy to clearly communicate with their target audience through relevant delivery channels. The true power of this customer experience lies in a brand’s ability to align their content with multiple different consumer touchpoints in a cost-effective and scalable way. By maximising relevancy, we can drive engagement with customers like never before.

Maintain brand consistency

Brands should use brand guardians to safeguard carefully curated brand identities across the different formats and touchpoints. From imagery and logo integrity to tone of voice, brands need to implement robust processes that deliver consistent and accurate content. Maintaining strong band equity is especially difficult in a growing culture of marketplaces over brand websites. Consumers search for solutions rather than brands. This requires a refocusing of efforts towards infusing their marketplace product pages with their brand identity.

Leveraging data to enhance the customer experience

One of the major benefits that ecommerce channels hold over their physical counterparts is opportunity to continually test and optimize content based on real-time customer data. Rigorous testing efforts take time and effort but have tangible results for businesses – less abandoned carts, increased return on ad spend and increased conversion rates. However, with customers requiring an omnichannel experience brands should be aiming to provide the same level of personalization and optimization in-store.

Brick-and-mortar stores can also acquire real-time data. In-store personalization requires making use of digital in the physical space, increasing the presence of digital touchpoints in physical stores, such as tablets for sales assistants or customer-facing digital screens. Interactive in-store touchpoints can collect customer data, for example, through interactive screens that allow customers to log in to their loyalty program. Brands can use these kinds of initiatives to add value to the experience while collecting data. This data can then be used to optimize the omnichannel experience, informing content production to ensure that new content is relevant and effective. More personalized experiences at each and every touchpoint can help to increase brand loyalty through deeper connections with consumers.

A holistic approach to brand experience

Not only should brands break down the barriers between physical and digital, but they should be implementing a holistic approach that takes into account the bigger picture. This would not only provide a more engaging experience, but also bridge the information gap for businesses with customers who expect recognition across all channels. Too often, the design of brick-and-mortar stores is affected more by legacy than ecosystem coordination, whilst ecommerce is siloed into a separate department. Brands should consider and integrate touchpoints and their content within the components of the end-to-end customer experience. All touchpoints should be seamlessly connected within the customer journey and be embedded with the brand’s identity to provide consistency and additional value, which ultimately leads to brand and customer loyalty.

To find out how Tag can help you implement a connected customer experience strategy, contact us here.