The Power of Strategy-led Design

The term “customer-centric” gets tossed around frequently, with most brands claiming superior customer care. When we ask customers what they think, how big of a gap would you estimate exists? According to Bain & Company, 80% of C-suite executives say they deliver an exceptional experience, but only 8% of their customers agree. That’s not a gap. It’s a chasm.

In the “attract” stage of the customer journey, we can leverage the Blink Factor to grab attention and intrigue customers. In the “engage” stage, they interact with your website, staff, store, and package. Are you giving them the most impactful experience?

In today’s newsletter, we will discuss the importance of strategy-led design in creating a more emotionally connected, customer-centric brand experience.

What is Strategy-led Design?

While great designers are usually intuitive, intuition is only as reliable as a coin toss when achieving specific goals. Designers need the support of strategists with a wide range of skills in gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing data to provide context and clarity.

Strategy-led design is a process that starts by building a solid foundation of knowledge. It considers many viewpoints, challenges biases, and discovers untapped potential. It considers the business context and needs, as well as the Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Employee (VoE) tasked with delivering the experience.

The research phase could include a range of research approaches, depending on the project. While existing data can provide some value, design-focused research will answer questions that aren’t typically asked. Most importantly, the research must be culled into a concise opportunity report. Designers can’t absorb a hundred data points and turn them into a coherent package, website, or store design. The role of strategy is to determine which points are most relevant and translate them into design language.

The Allure of Low Investment Implies Low Return on Opportunity

Your research will indicate opportunities that are easier to achieve and options that require more investment. Unfortunately, the easy-to-do options are almost always less unique and less impactful. Too often, brands fixate on the easy choices because they’re easy. This results in fluff that isn’t important to the consumers. Investing in a single consumer benefit that requires more effort, but is highly relevant, is how you become customer-centric.

A great example is Grafton Apparel’s investment in sales choreography and tailoring for its iconic menswear brand, Tip Top. Research demonstrated that men want a suit that fits well and also fits their budget – but many lack confidence in making the right choice. By focusing on an exceptional sales experience completed with tailoring services, Tip Top was able to fill an emotional gap in the market: feeling confident about a suit that fits your life. This big investment is paying off, with the brand opening more stores nationwide due to its success.

Making the Most of Your Research Budget

Conducting research saves you money in the long run by helping you avoid mistakes and capitalize on opportunities you might not have considered. That being said, there are some ways to conduct research more efficiently.

• Tap into your frontline staff – they can be a good proxy for customer feedback
• Work with a design agency that has a strategy team built in rather than working with multiple agencies
• Ask potential design partners about what kind of formal research is included in their fees
• Ensure annual customer satisfaction surveys include design-focused questions

Conclusion

Closing the customer experience gap is one of the greatest opportunities for brands to drive growth. A strategy-focused approach is critical in getting there.