Bridging the gap: How brand experience and customer experience drive growth, loyalty and competitive advantage

Do you remember the last time you interacted with your bank, bought an airline ticket, or popped out for a coffee? How was the experience? Did you feel valued, listened to, or did it feel like you were being processed as efficiently as possible?

Brand experience for customers matters. And it matters now more than ever. It’s the sum of all interactions a customer has with a brand across various touchpoints - whether online or offline. And believe it or not, it’s often overlooked.

Many businesses focus heavily on operational efficiency - delivering products and services as quickly and effectively as possible. But for customers, it’s much deeper. Every interaction encompasses emotions, builds perceptions, and forms memories that last.

From brand perception to profit: Why brand experience matters?

• Creates Emotional Connections and Drive Brand Loyalty

A strong brand experience builds emotional ties – people feel a connection to your brand. When customers feel emotionally connected to a brand, they're more likely to choose the brand ahead of competitors, go out of their way to buy from the brand and importantly recommend it to others.

This connection can be the difference between a one-time buyer and a lifelong advocate. Think about popping out for that coffee again, why do you keep going back to the same place, even with dozens of options nearby? 

• Differentiates You from Competitors

In mature markets, product features alone may not be enough. As customers become more demanding, they need a reason to choose you beyond convenience or price.

A memorable, well planned, and connected brand experience sets a company apart, offering unique value that can’t be replicated easily. As a result, people are also willing to pay more for brands that they believe offer a superior experience. Think Apple, Disney or Pandora - not just selling products, but experiences people value.

Every interaction helps shape how your brand is perceived. A consistent and positive brand experience solidifies your identity in customers' minds, making your brand more recognisable and relevant.

• Boosts Customer Engagement, Retention and Performance

Positive experiences encourage customers to return. Consistency, authenticity, and empathy across all brand touchpoints - website, packaging, customer service - helps reinforce trust and reliability. Happy customers share their experiences. A good brand experience can lead to organic promotion through reviews, social media posts, and recommendations. Ultimately, strong brand experiences translate into better business metrics - higher customer lifetime value, lower churn, and increased brand equity.

Think about the success of Airbnb in hospitality, challenging the sector, building a strong base of hosts and guests and making the experience for both seamless. Or Represent, the urban fashion brand creating a community, distinctive experience, social following and success in a declining sector. In fact, challenger and niche brands often excel at creating standout brand experience strategies and rapidly win market share from legacy players.

The overlooked link: Employee brand experience

A further aspect to Brand Experience worth considering is The Employee Brand. The employee experience (EX) is the sum of an employee’s interactions with their workplace - culture, tools, leadership, environment - while brand experience (BX) is how customers perceive and interact with the brand. When employees have a great experience, they’re more engaged, motivated, and aligned with the brand's mission, which directly affects how customers perceive the brand.

Employees are a brand’s most important ambassadors whether that’s online or offline. Their tone, approach, and energy influence customer interaction, often shaping first impressions. There is a direct correlation between employee engagement and service delivery, and in turn customer satisfaction scores and commercial performance. Just think of eating out, or shopping for specialised sports gear or connecting with tech support for your broadband - employee attitude makes or breaks it.

Businesses need to remember that internal culture reflects outwards – the Brand Inside Out. A brand that treats its people well signals trustworthiness and ethics. Customers can sense authenticity; brands that are internally misaligned often feel inconsistent externally.

"If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of your customers."
— Richard Branson

Questions to consider: Where brand, customer & employee experience meet

Companies should consider the following aspects when thinking about the intersection between Brand, Customer and Employee – the point at which the brand promise is delivered consistently by employees and felt deeply by customers.:

1. Are colleagues well-trained, supported, and aligned with the Brand Values?
2. Do all frontline colleagues understand the Brand positioning and service standards as they link to the Brand’s distinctiveness?
3. Do colleagues have the awareness, tools and skills to deliver a smoother and more consistent Brand Experience?
4. Do colleagues feel empowered to suggest ideas, solve problems creatively, and go the extra mile?
5. Does brand planning include the customer journey touchpoints and actions on how to build stronger brand experiences?
6. Are marketing and communications campaigns developed with the intersection in mind?
7. Does your research connect all three to understand holistically the Brand’s promise and delivery?
8. Does your insight clearly articulate how to build your brand by understanding what people are seeing and experiencing from your brand, how your brand connects to them with a consistent, relevant message and what it will take to get them to choose your brand more often?
9. Do you understand the potential lifetime value of your customers and what it will take to retain them?
10. Are you sure you’ve set the correct action standards and are monitoring the KPIs that really matter?

Examples of brand experience excellence

Apple and IKEA are two great examples of Brand Experience Excellence in action.

1. Inspiring a connected, creative community

• Apple Brand positioning: Simplicity, Creativity and Humanity

• Apple Employees: trained to embody the Brand at every Genius Bar, retail floor, or support call

• Apple Customers: expect and receive a premium, consistent, smooth experience (there is always a queue of fans ready to participate) and are willing to pay more and advocate

Because all three align, Apple maintains a strong emotional and reputational edge.

2. Creating a better everyday life for all

• Ikea Brand positioning: A sustainable everyday

• Ikea employees: feel the strong democratic ethos and empowerment to deliver against the company purpose of creating beautifully designed and good functioning products, that are sustainable, of good quality and are available at a low price

• Ikea customers: enjoy the planned retail experience, interactive predesigned room layouts and digital tools where they can see how furniture looks in their homes. These facilitate easy decision making. Active involvement in the product assembly to re-enforce the design, quality and price equation

Because all three align, Ikea continues to lead on affordable functionality and stylish design, maintaining a unique customer experience, and a strong brand identity, all while emphasizing sustainability.

At Hall & Partners, we understand the service profit chain and work with our clients to design research programmes that connect all vital data and build insight-driven strategies to help businesses understand what they need to do to grow their brands.