Some retail empires, like Nike and Tiffany’s, are built around brands synonymous with quality and prestige. People buy their products because they know what the companies stand for and they consistently deliver on their promises.
However, new Gallup research shows that only half of consumers believe that the companies they do business with always deliver on their promises. The rest fall significantly short.
Successful brands that live up to their promises enjoy high revenue, customer engagement and market share. Their customers have a strong emotional attachment and will go out of their way for a particular product or service.
Keeping brand promises and achieving success often go hand in hand. The highest-performing companies in Gallup’s database deliver on their brand promise 75% of the time, enabling them to surpass their competitors.
A company’s brand promise can stumble for various reasons. It may be too similar to its competitors, out of line with the company’s purpose or culture, or be unclear or boring.
Most often, however, companies overlook the most important part of the promise: their employees.
Regardless of the product or service, a brand promise generally succeeds or fails based on employees’ ability to consistently deliver it.
Yet Gallup’s research shows that most employees aren’t the proper brand ambassadors. In fact, only 27% said they strongly agree that they always deliver on the promises they make to customers.
For example, a pharmacy employee might tell a customer that a prescription will be ready in 10 minutes when the wait will really be 30 minutes. Or a supplier might tell a construction company that materials will be available by a specific date but then fail to communicate when the materials end up on back order.
The result: unhappy customers, regardless of good-intentioned employees.
Company leaders and managers can tackle the issue by objectively assessing their company’s brand promises by asking themselves several basic questions, such as:
- Which promises are easy to keep and which ones are harder?
- Which promises define the brand and differentiate your brand from competitors?
- Which promises could be eliminated?
Having answers to those questions can help companies better define and deliver a brand promise that is unique and compelling.
