May 11, 2016

James O’GaraCEO / Founder, OnMessage

Your company’s message is the thread that connects the

customer experience. It’s the one thing that can truly make

a difference in what your customers think about your

company. From your website, to content marketing, to

sales conversations and customer service phone calls, your

corporate story is everywhere. It directly impacts customer

perception and their overall experience — so when, where

and how well you deliver your corporate message throughout

the customer experience matters.

It’s the one thing … that is omnipresent.

Forrester Research defines the customer experience as, “How

customers perceive their interactions with your company.”

Interactions define experiences. To interact, an exchange

must take place, and nine times out of ten that exchange

takes place in the form of words. Words consumed by

customers in conversations, print materials and digital

experiences. Words exchanged between your employees

and customers, your partners and customers, and your

content and customers.

Ensuring your organization stays “on message” is

foundational to customer experience success. That’s why

CMOs must implement focused and strategic initiatives that

enable employees and partners deliver a consistent story.

Initiatives that ensure they can bring the corporate story to

life in the communication vehicles and conversations used

throughout the customer experience. Maybe that is why Colin

Mitchell, Worldwide Head of Planning at Ogilvy & Mather once

said, “Weaving corporate messages into employees’ everyday

experiences, ensures on-brand behavior becomes instinctive.”

It’s the one thing … that directly impacts perception.

How you communicate and deliver your company’s story

matters, because words matter. In fact, a recent report from

Insight Agency, a UK consultancy, found that almost 50

percent of a brand’s image is attributed to what it says and

how it says it. How you describe who you are, why you exist,

what you do, the value you deliver and what makes you

different determines — how customers perceive your

company. Companies that consistently communicate their

story outperform those that deliver an inconsistent and

fragmented story in the marketplace. The question is, how

consistent are the words you are using and delivering

throughout the customer journey?

It’s the one thing … that emotionally engages your customer.

Interactions are rooted in emotion. The emotional state of

customers, entering and exiting interactions with your

company, determines how they perceive their overall

experience. What emotion is your story designed to evoke?

As you formulate corporate messaging, you need to think

about how it will emotionally connect with and motivate your

target audience. Your story must go beyond selling something

and emotionally connect with what your customer truly values.

The Journal of Business Strategy published an article that

said, “In its simplest sense, a corporate story is a narrative

tool that tells the tale of a company’s strategy in action. It is

a clear, structured, compelling articulation of ‘‘who we are’’

Your Story: The Bedrock of Customer Experience.

To interact, an exchangemust take place, and nine times out of ten that exchangetakes place in the form of words.

and ‘‘where we’re headed’’ that rallies emotional and rational

support from stakeholders.” Do the stakeholders that play a

role in your customer experience understand what your target

audience truly values and the emotional connection your

company wants to make with customers?

It’s the one thing … that connects all phases of the customer journey.

From the self-service phase of the buying journey to the

sales process and the post-purchase phase of the customer

experience, your corporate message is omnipresent. Your

story is being consumed 24 / 7 / 365. That’s just a fact you

must have a plan to deal with. This means how your message

is delivered … when it is delivered … matters more than ever

before. As a CMO or marketing executive responsible for

defining brand perception and customer relationships,

delivering a clear, compelling and consistent corporate

message should be at the top of your customer experience

priority list.

Your story is the bedrock of your entire customer experience.

The bedrock of a successful customer experience strategy

is delivering a clear, compelling and consistent message.

Just how important is it to deliver a consistent corporate

story? According to Harvard Business Review, companies that

deliver a consistent message throughout the customer journey

increase revenue 10–15 percent. We will say it again. Words

matter. That’s why David Rich, a marketing executive in the

UK, said, “the words a business uses … play a pivotal role

in creating context around each touchpoint, the cornerstone

to customers developing trust.” He went on to say, “Words

– nuances in phrases – are absolutely paramount …. if you

don’t have consistency in your wording, you will never have a

coherent platform for communication.” Your goal is to achieve

complete alignment and connectivity between your corporate

story (messaging platform) and how customers perceive the

interactions they have with your company.

More Information:To learn more about how corporate messaging directly impacts

on the customer experience and ultimately the performance of

your business, visit itsonmessage.com/resource.

Your goal is to achieve complete alignment and connectivity between your corporate story and how customers perceive the interactions they have withyour company.