Branded experiences drive loyalty, Accenture finds

WM Circle Logo

By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on April 12, 2006

Delivering a branded customer experience is still critical in nurturing customer loyalty and driving revenue growth, according to a new book on customer relationship management from Accenture and Montgomery Research Inc.

The book, Defying the Limits: Delivering the Branded Customer Experience, focuses on the importance of the branded customer experience. In other words, it looks at the effective use of every customer touch-point to convey the brand's promise to the consumer.

Most important factor
The book is a compilation of essays authored by CRM practitioners, academics and consultants, and builds on Accenture's own research into marketing and customer management. Overall, it argues that a branded customer experience is the single most important factor in developing and maintaining customer loyalty.

Following the theme of the 'Branded Customer Experience', each of the authors examines how a company can convey its brand promise through every customer interaction, making the essence of the brand into "more than just a logo". The authors are from varying backgrounds and organisations, including Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Rutgers University and Purdue University, among others.

Shift in CRM approach
Woody Driggs, global managing partner in Accenture's CRM service line, opens the book by detailing the shift of CRM from being an off-the-shelf technology to being a marketing and business mindset focused on profitable growth, while also noting that successful companies today are paying increased attention to a branded customer experience.

According to Driggs: "Traditionally, companies have focused their CRM investments on tactical outcomes - reducing costs or making customer management activities more efficient. Today, executives are expanding their definition of brand and moving beyond seeing it as merely a logo that identifies a particular product - to seeing it as a means to acquire new customers, increase customer loyalty and drive growth."

For additional information:
·  Visit Accenture at http://www.accenture.com
·  Visit Montgomery Research at http://www.mriresearch.com