Customer experience,not brands will be on the iron throne

Abstract

The author will challenge the ancient “brand-related” thinking, submitting that somehow companies are still in control of what consumers think or even how customers act. As a counterproposition, the author highlights that the only thing companies can manage these days are the experiences customers have with them and their offerings. Supported by our research, I propose to end the chicken-and-egg question of if brands drive the customer experience which is (how CX), or vice versa. I suggest researching the only thing that matters, how CX offerings, and how CX influences the way customer search, collect, and evaluate information and behave. This proposition leads into the implications for the market research community and CX management.