Mission-Driven Customer Experience

Can we go on the record to say that they are still extremely important but there is a shift in focus, away from solely focusing on convenience and moving toward considering the customers’ values and beliefs has never seemed so important than now! In Nate Brown’s article “Mission-Driven Customer Experiences (CX): A Guide“, he says:

“Enter mission-driven CX. This is the principle that customers are going to do business with organizations that actively embody the core values most important to them. Ultimately, we all want to develop relationships with companies in the same way we do with other people. We gravitate towards those we can trust and who act in a manner consistent with our own values. Many companies, having seen an aspect of this trend, have slapped a promise statement up on their website, proclaiming to the world who they are and what they believe. This is no longer enough. CX is what makes these proclamations more than just marketing copy."

When you think about it, only a few decades ago, companies could get by without focusing too much attention on perfecting their public image because there was only one way people knew about them - through word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers telling other friends exactly where to go if someone wanted something done right.  

Today, the extremely successful brands have realised that customers are more focused on what they stand for.  

This means that an organization’s most important asset is no longer its product or service, it is how well they embody a unique identity and communicate this across all channels of communication with potential customers. This is crucial, as for many organisations, a single customer's experience can be the difference between success and failure.  

In our new customer-focused utopia, it is a given that companies must focus on delivering consistent experiences rather than plentiful ones, but, in order to gain loyalty, these experiences must also fit with the customer's stance and beliefs.  

In the same article Nate tells the story of his wife:

“Just the other night my wife and I were in the kitchen wrestling through a variety of purchasing decisions. Everything from what to get for our kids’ teachers, to should we buy a robot vacuum, to our next house project. She made a statement that shut me right up with the reality of it. (Amazing, right?) “It’s just so hard to know what to do with our life, our time, and our money.”

Ain’t that the truth?  

"As consumers, we have an overwhelming number of options—a myriad of organizations offering essentially the same thing. How is an organization supposed to break through all this noise?  

It’s the order of my wife’s statement that I find so fascinating and true: life, time, and money. She just summarized the mind of the modern customer! In descending order of importance:

Life: Does this brand encourage me and give me life by treating me like a person? Do they encourage a type of lifestyle among their employees and customers that aligns to my values? Do they give life back to the community in meaningful ways?

Time: Does this brand care about my time and make it easy for me to do business with them? Can I trust them to deliver without making me jump through hoops?

Money: Is this a good value for the resources I’m investing? Could I get the same thing elsewhere for a better price?”

Very well pinpointed we hope you will agree!? We see a lot of young brands instantly competing in the big arena with major legacy brands, because they have a story! As humans, we are storytellers but more importantly, story consumers and we have moved through each stage of the customer (r)evolution perfectly. We now stand knowing what we know and believing in what we believe in.  

It is only natural that we seek affinity with brands that practice what we perceive to be right and just! Or, fun and lively! Or, deep and conscious. It's our choice but it much be authentic and not contrived to simply capture people's hearts and minds, only to never deliver on our promise.  

If you are not already thinking about Mission-Driven CX then it may be time to understand what it entails.