How creativity can enhance customer experiences

Customer experience is a vast ocean, making any and every interaction of a brand with its customers an experience, good or bad. This is why these two words can make or break a brand and eventually, the business.

Think about it. Customer experience is spoken, written, seen, heard, touched, in all, and more ways than one can imagine. The one common thing is how they make customers feel before, during and after their interactions with the brand.

In the marketing phraseology, it is called ‘Feelter’—a guiding philosophy to arrive at ideas and solutions that flow from ‘how will it make the customer feel?' If that is captured and expressed in a new, refreshing, or innovative manner, it often, is going to have a positive impact on the immediate and potential customers. And that is where creativity comes into play.

Create

Imagine the connection a brand establishes with its customers when it is launched, making or shaping its products into a participative experience. Besides the conventional methods, social media, deep listening tools, and technology have made the participative experience more possible than before. It is no longer just about getting input, suggestions, and thoughts from customers, but also about how you do that and then, how you share that with the world.

A few years ago, I attended an auto expo, where a leading automobile brand used connected screens to let the audience design their own car. Right then and there, in front of the audience. My son also participated and more than me, he enjoyed the experience and still remembers it. That brand of automobile, which took customer experience to a different level, is his favourite even today.

Similarly, NIKEiD (Nike By You) allows customers to unleash their imagination and design their own shoes, creating a unique and personalised product. More than customers, they add fans to their already envious base of people who like the brand, using a creative platform.

Another interesting area is trials, probably the last step before buying, Creativity can play a crucial role here as well.

Every brand would like to improve its conversion rates here. Diesel in Spain installed the Diesel Cam, where shoppers could try on clothes, and then instantly take and upload photos on social media so their friends could help them choose which items to purchase.

Cheer

In customer experience, one of the under-utilised areas is the point of sale—the Moment of Truth, which can be turned into a Moment of Cheer, with creativity. It is important to realise that the same product or service can make a customer feel differently, depending on how it is bought.

Making this experience engaging and exciting, from e-commerce to a big mall, can tilt the customer towards your brand. As they say, people buy experiences, not products.

Ikea is a great example of a brand leveraging customer experience consistently. Its augmented reality (AR) app allows customers to visualise furniture in their home setting before purchasing. A leading car brand had done something similar for one of its models.

Lenskart 3D Try On feature pioneered a new customer experience, making it highly memorable (besides the utility factor). These are great ways to influence a decision. Not to mention, the word of mouth they generate.

In a multi-brand outlet scenario, where the fight to catch people’s attention is intense, well-crafted creative experiences can give your brand a distinct advantage. E-commerce giant, Amazon set up interactive booths in malls, where visitors could engage live with the Fire TV Stick. It created a novel, immersive experience that boosted sales during the campaign.

In product categories with restrictions on mainstream advertising, experiences can play an even bigger role in connecting with consumers. Technology and tools like AR, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) or bots can help elevate experiences such that brands can swing customers their way.

Community

A creative lens on customer experience can help brands attract certain customers and create a connection beyond transactional. It helps build loyalty and a following that is hard to beat.

Brands can get creative through initiatives, platforms and experiments that get ingrained in customers’ hearts and minds. A good example is GoPro, a brand that encourages customers to share their experiences and content on its social media or website—nudging them to get creative.

Gamification is another aspect that is yet to be tapped in a big way, creatively speaking. Brand stories can be woven into hyper-casual games, and linked to rewards, resulting in fabulous and unique experiences. The NikePlus app uses gamification, which includes personalised challenges and rewards to keep the customers engaged.

Customer experience is evolving as we speak. Above everything else, customers seek authenticity in the way a brand operates and behaves—and creativity can make them ‘feel’ it at every step of the customer experience.

Raman Minhas, chief creative officer, IdeateLab