From brand-centric to consumer-obsessed

What does it mean to be consumer-obsessed? Why bother? How is it different from our current way of working? How do we become consumer-obsessed?

These are questions that are often circling in the heads of the clients we’re working with. As is true in most circumstances, answers tend to come with a fair bit of nuance.

A working definition

Let’s start with a working definition for consumer obsession:

Consumer* obsession is a way of doing business that fosters a positive consumer experience at every stage of the consumer journey. It means that anytime a consumer-obsessed business makes a decision, it deeply considers the effect the outcome will have on its end users. It is a commitment to prioritizing consumer satisfaction, before, during and after any kind of interaction (sometimes above its own priorities).

[*By consumers we mean general, everyday people. Sometimes the words consumer and customer are interchangeable, but we have found that sometimes brand-centric organizations refer to customers as their wholesale partners, so we’ll default to using the word consumer to refer to the end user of a product or service.]

Many (potentially most) brands will claim to be consumer-obsessed. But reality may contradict their intent. Truly consumer-obsessed brands align their intent (their desire to serve the consumer) with reality (how consumers experience that brand first hand). Consumer obsession is not measured by the brand’s perception of itself, but by the consumer’s perception of the brand.

This is further emphasized by the importance of looking at each interaction, not only the transaction. True consumer obsession exists when consumers trust that they don’t need to transact in order for a brand to listen to them and to respond in a way that satisfies them.

Think of the times we make inquiries with brands, for example through live chats, where we just want to know more information about their products or services and we end the chat feeling sold to rather than listened to. It’s in these types of interactions where the rubber meets the road between intent and reality.

Why be consumer-obsessed?

If this is sounding like a lot of work, that’s because it is. Consumer obsession is not the task of a single role, function, or department. It requires a holistic approach — a commitment across an entire organization — and it is not easily achieved. So, why bother?

Well, research suggests that consumer-obsessed organizations — organizations with consistently high consumer satisfaction ratings — are able to grow revenue twice as quickly, and tend to be 60% more profitable than organizations with lower satisfaction ratings. One study suggests that a typical $1B organization can gain an estimated $775M in revenue over a three-year period by simply improving the consumer experience (reducing wait times, making transactions easier, etc.).

This research suggests a clear justification for becoming consumer-obsessed. But it often requires a brand to shift from a brand-centric universe to a consumer-centric universe.

A brand-centric universe — the linear model

When Copernicus first suggested the sun as the center of the solar system, most rejected the claim. It was inconceivable that earth — the world humans inhabit — could be obliged to another force.

This notion is at play in most brand-centric companies. They believe their brand is at the center of their solar system, and consumers revolve around it.

Wherever it comes from — engineering, marketing, manufacturing, product — a brand-centric universe relies on a mostly internal perspective. Their primary focus is on the transaction — selling products, and driving repeat sales.

They tend to force the consumer into their way of doing things with a ‘build it and they will come’ mentality.

To be sure, many of the biggest and most successful brands have been built using a very similar model. Henry Ford is famous for saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

But there are limits to this approach.

In order to gauge how brand-centric vs. consumer-obsessed these organizations are, we ask questions like these: How often do you speak to your target consumer? How often do you conduct mystery shopping? How often do you gather survey data and respond to the results? If the answers are: once or twice a year, rarely, or never, we know there is a huge opportunity to level up.

A consumer-centric universe — the relational model

The converse to a brand-centric universe is similar to the shift in perspective required to accept Copernicus’ discovery. Rather than seeing the brand at the center, it’s a decision to put the consumer at the center.

In this kind of universe, everything revolves around the consumer’s needs, wants and desires, and the ultimate priority is put on consumer satisfaction. Consumer-obsessed organizations have an endless desire to better understand consumers so they can better serve them. This includes a prioritization on removing friction points, as well as adopting and conforming to the users needs over time. This is when reality aligns with intent.

Rather than taking a linear approach, consumer-obsessed organizations tend to take a relational approach that looks something like this:

Three areas to develop for consumer obsession

Through our own lived experience of building consumer-obsessed organizations and in studying others, one tenet is clear: consumer obsession requires both a top-down and bottoms-up approach, and lives at the intersection of three distinct disciplines:

1. Cultural commitment — Consumer-obsessed organizations are often voted amongst the best places to work. This is often because they are committed to providing a valuable experience to their consumers and to empowering employees to bring that valuable experience to life. They understand it’s a two-way street: consumer obsession begets employee satisfaction (and vice versa). This does not mean brand-centric organizations are bad places to work, but work often feels more like a job than a mission for their employees.
2. Empathy-driven innovation — Consumer-obsessed organizations go to great lengths to connect, engage, and listen to their end consumers. They intentionally build empathy for their consumers, and use insights from this process as the primary fuel for innovation. This is not to exclude the importance of data, nor the process of developing quantitative insights. In fact, this is often where brand-centric organizations excel. But simply looking at data tells only part of the story. For a brand-centric organization to move towards consumer obsession, it’s imperative they incorporate empathy in their approach.
3. Intentional experience design — Consumer-obsessed organizations are hyper-focused on removing friction from and adding value to the consumer experience at every step along the way. Again, it’s not about the transaction, but the interaction. This starts with the discovery process and extends all the way through the consumer journey (however far that goes, and however long it takes). Brand-centric organizations like to a use a “push” model as they are trying to edge consumers towards a transaction.

Some useful examples

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Here are their principles:

• “Creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere” is their consumer-centric purpose, and it is brought to life through richly empathetic travel experiences.
• Bring consumers into your decision-making process: Airbnb hosts an annual conference. Inviting hosts and members of their team, they work to co-create the future of the platform as they take in feedback, get insights on what’s working (and what’s not), and work to further improve the host experience (so guests can benefit).
• Invest (deeply) in personal consumer support: They take an omni-channel approach to ensuring guests have a positive experience from end to end. They’ve invested in live agents, bots, and 24/7 service to assist guests whenever needed. They’re known to answer calls in less than a minute, and to respond to emails in less than 24 hours.
• Cultivate empathy for the end consumer: Not only does Airbnb encourage employees to double as guests while traveling for work or for leisure, but they also help employees cultivate empathy for their community by requiring them to shadow support agents who work person to person with consumers.

Trader Joe’s consumer-centric purpose is ‘to provide outstanding value in the form of the best quality products at the best everyday prices’. To do this, they look beyond the typical supermarket experience, and go above and beyond to put the consumer at the center of everything. Here’s how they approach it:

• Be proactive in seeking consumer insights: Rather than waiting for feedback, TJ’s puts an emphasis on being proactive when seeking consumer insights. They use insights gleaned to drive new product innovation.
• Simplify the process: TJ’s focuses on quality over quantity. As a result, they have a SKU count of 4K items whereas the typical supermarket has 40K items.
• Communicate your commitments: Internally to employees and externally to all.

“It’s often best for us to get out into the world
and not just wait for things to come to us…”
-Matt Sloan, VP of Marketing Product

Starbucks’ consumer-centric purpose is “to inspire the human spirit, one person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time”. The coffee behemoth has, at times, oscillated between brand-centric and consumer-obsessed. Rather than focusing on selling more cups of coffee to more people, they’ve made a pivot towards driving loyalty and making Starbucks feel more like your favorite local coffee shop (again!). Here’s how they execute their philosophy:

• Leveraging data for perks: Starbucks is able to capture individualized consumer data in exchange for a robust set of benefits through their loyalty and rewards platform. This drives loyalty, and has also paved the way for a richer, more personalized experience (e.g. a free drink on your birthday).
• Add more value into the experience: Loyalty also comes by way of an improved personalized experience. With mobile ordering, on-the-go coffee drinkers can cut the line, get their fix, and move on with their day.
• Leverage front line employees: Starbucks understands its front line employees have an outsized impact on the overall consumer experience. They empower their front line employees to be authentic, and to establish relationships with their everyday consumers.

Vinyl Me, Please is centered around the consumer-centric purpose of ‘exploring music together & facilitating journeys through music’. Using vinyl as the medium, and membership as the mechanism, VMP brings its consumers together around a shared passion for music. Here’s how they do it:

• Establish authenticity and trust — VMP is built for music lovers, by music lovers. The brand stands for the celebration of music, and the humanization of the experience. Music lovers look to VMP with the sense, “they’re just like me!”
• Measure consumer satisfaction — Net promoter score (NPS) is an indicator of future churn. As NPS improves, retention does too. NPS represents a confluence of factors (supply chain, marketing, consumer service, product satisfaction, etc.) that affect the consumer experience, and help the company quickly identify areas that are working (and not working).
• Sacrifice profits for satisfaction: Vinyl collectors are a fickle group of people. Even the slightest detail matters. When something goes wrong (like a typo on a record jacket), VMP will reprint and send new copies to affected consumers at no charge. It costs the company money in the short term, but it’s paid back in increased long-term consumer value.

Principles and ideas for all consumer-obsessed organizations — a checklist

Culture

• Buy-in and emphasis from all layers of leadership
• Communicate your consumer-centric commitments internally and externally
• Measure consumer satisfaction, NPS, etc.
• Make consumer obsession metrics part of the annual review process & tie it to bonus compensation
• Make direct consumer interactions an integral part of the work week
• Encourage & empower all staffers to engage with consumers as an integral part of the work week

Empathy

• Don’t wait for consumer feedback, be proactive in seeking it
• Field visits, store participation, mystery shopper
• Collect first-party data, analyze it often
• Bring consumers into decision-making process
• Build communities to support connection eg. ambassador programs
• Incubate and experiment with new ideas in a low-risk environment (labs)
• Adopt the voice of the consumer as the voice of the brand to create relatability

Experience

• Be relentless in removing friction (buying, returning, using, and beyond)
• Invest deeply in consumer service that feels personal
• Create seamless omni-channel experiences in direct and indirect channels
• Build a relationship-based business — from consumers to members
• Surprise & delight consumers that engage more — recognize and reward them for their loyalty, offer them exclusive access, let them look behind the scenes, etc.
• Align the company’s social / environmental commitments with those of loyal consumers

The challenge and joy of consumer obsession

Having digested the words and pictures above, would you consider your organization truly consumer-obsessed?

While we’d argue that consumer obsession is the most fundamental brand and business differentiator, it is not always an easy road to follow. It requires a huge level of commitment for the entire organization, especially from leadership.

Once you become consumer-obsessed you’ll come to understand what it is to exist on a flywheel, constantly having to respond to the needs of those pesky yet revered consumers. It’s a flywheel that is both rewarding and resource-intensive, but once engaged properly it becomes a virtuous cycle of delivering ever-greater engagement and satisfaction for the consumer — ultimately increasing the lifetime value of your consumers. In our words, consumer obsession creates relationships that become almost unbreakable.