Customer Experience
What Are Brand Values & How Do You Amplify Them?
September 17, 2020 by Kelly Karrmann
Copied link
Too often marketing and customer experience leaders rely on surveys to tell them how customers are feeling. While surveys can offer a glimpse into how some customers perceive your brand, this type of solicited feedback has its limitations. Survey data isn’t contextual enough to act on and there’s so much survey frustration and fatigue these days that companies are relying on a fractional return to base their entire strategy around.
While surveys may not share the full picture, your customers are already freely sharing their thoughts with you. You’re just probably not looking in the right place.
Every time a customer communicates with your brand through email, chat, or on the phone, they’re telling you exactly what they think. In fact, 40% of all customer interactions include at least one mention of a brand value. A brand value is a specific reason customers are pleased with your brand.
Brand values include customer expressions of satisfaction, delight, or any positive feedback about their perceived experience with your product, people, or technology. Brand values can be a powerful tool for continuing to elevate your customer experience and differentiating your brand. They can help you maximize positive brand perception, create loyal repeat customers, and differentiate your brand from the competition.
How to Identify Brand Values
Understanding your brand values allows you to lean into what makes your brand experience special.
Here’s how to discover what your customers truly appreciate about your brand:
- Get in the habit of regularly listening to unsolicited customer feedback (here’s a step-by-step guide to getting started)
- Tune your ears to positive tones and phrases that signal appreciation, delight, or relief (we’ve included a few examples below)
- List all of the values you hear and look for common themes or trends
- From that list, identify the top brand values impacting your business. This is where you should focus your efforts first.
Brand Value Examples
Brand values sound like:
- “I sure appreciate your knowledge and efficiency.”
- “You kept me from pulling my hair out. You have no idea. You are a lifesaver!”
- “Sounds to me like I called the right number today. I’m very grateful!”
- “I really appreciate all your help on this. I know we all make mistakes and I appreciate you figuring it out.”
- “I’m really impressed with your company. You folks really try to help your people out. So I really appreciate it. You’ve been very helpful and you’re personable too.”
- “Thank you. You’ve given me lots of different ideas.”
- “I was so intimidated and every phone call I make to you has been so clear, like you are trying to make my life so much easier.”
- “This just made my day! Thank you!”
Most Common Brand Values
In healthcare, the most common brand values include:
- Appreciation of customer service
- Expressions of “ease” of doing business
- Testimonials of success with the treatment, care, or product they have received
How to Amplify Brand Values
Uncovering your top brand values gives you a better sense of what’s driving positive brand perception so you can develop a strategy to maximize it.
Once you’ve identified your top values you should:
- Define specifically what your customers value and appreciate. They like your service – but why? What specifically keeps them coming back?
- Share these top values and compelling customer testimonials with others in your organization. Start a cross-functional group with other leaders who are committed to understanding and amplifying what makes your organization great.
- Meet regularly to discuss new insights and find ways to build upon them.
- Execute on those ideas and then continue monitoring customer interactions to see if your change has a positive impact.
About Authenticx
Authenticx was founded to analyze and activate customer interaction data at scale. Why? We wanted to reveal transformational opportunities in healthcare. We are on a mission to help humans understand humans. With a combined 100+ years of leadership experience in pharma, payer, and healthcare organizations, we know first-hand the challenges and opportunities that our clients face because we’ve been in your shoes.
Want to learn more? Contact us!