NOT EVERY BRAND NEEDS TO BE LOVED
In an era of convenience, when time is money, companies that reward low-effort buying are booming. Where does that leave emotion-led businesses?
When Timothée Chalamet turned up to the London premiere of his film A Complete Unknown on a Lime Bike, it set the internet alight. Brand leaders, marketing executives and everyday consumers could not stop talking about this stroke of genius that saw Chalemet, one of the most famous actors in Hollywood, cycle right onto the red carpet in patent leather dress shoes. Promptly, he whipped his phone out of a pocket in his navy Martine Rose suit and snapped a photo to end the ride right in front of the film’s signage.
Many people thought it was a PR stunt. How could he possibly be allowed to park it on the red carpet otherwise, they laughed. But Chalamet Limed to the event to avoid London’s traffic. He parked it illegally, and afterwards received a £65 fine. “Actually [the fine is] horrible because it was actually kind of an advert for them,” he wrote on X.
The fact is, almost everyone who interacts with a brand like Lime has a complaint. Parking is annoying; the bike chains are always broken; lots of them have no seats or no pedals. Lime has a 1.2 rating on Trustpilot, but, this May, Lime hit a milestone of 1 million rides within a single day; in London, around a tenth of all commuter traffic is done on a Lime bike. This got us thinking about how convenience can trump customer experience—which is especially interesting against the backdrop of the experience economy that we are in. “Five minutes of cycling and 10 minutes of frustration trying to get the app to park,” wrote one Trustpilot reviewer, who rated it a “terrible experience.” Nevertheless, this user continues to use Lime.
Source:
petalon.co.uk/our-history
In our online world, brands across all sectors are focused on creating meaningful offline connections with customers. But what if that wasn’t always relevant? Are some brands chasing the wrong goals? Lime is the perfect example of a brand whose entire customer experience is analogue. The interaction is not always positive, but the company’s product is a service that has become so convenient that utilising it has become second nature; ‘Liming’ to an event has become intuitive, and, in doing so, the brand has become a verb. It’s similar to how Google became code for ‘search’. Lime has become code for ‘commute.’
Other businesses and brands within the tech sector in particular have similarly negative ratings in customer perception. Uber, for example. Amazon. People love to hate these companies for myriad reasons that are both moral, economic, social and political. But again, brand perception does not affect customer retention when the real consumable product is convenience. Is it crazy that Uber Eats charges such high service fees that a $5 matcha latte winds up costing $15? Sure. Does that stop people from using the service? No
Convenience is now table stakes for any brand or business launching into the market today. It’s become a non-negotiable part of consumer culture; it’s fuelled a ripple effect of low-effort buying behaviours, where people are more inclined to opt for the easiest experience. Today, time is money. And ease is reframing what luxury means. Convenience now feels premium over traditional premium services. Standing outside Goyard or Dior in a queue to gain access to its store to browse on a Saturday morning is not luxury, for example. Receiving designer goods from an online order that’s wrapped in plastic is also not luxury. Being stuck in city traffic in a chauffeured car is not a luxury experience either; that’s why Chalemet opted to Lime his way there. A brand or an app that facilitates having another person go and get your coffee order and hand-deliver it to your door has become considered premium, because it requires no input whatsoever from the customer beyond clicking to buy.
“People love to hate on Uber, Lime and Amazon, but convenience can feel premium over traditional premium services that require effort.”
The market currently is divided between brands that offer meaning and an experience, and brands that offer convenience. The real value proposition for customers is a combination of both.
Not every emotional bond is necessary. It’s okay today for a brand to have tension with customers. Contradictions of experience are okay. Subscribers were annoyed when Netflix started charging to have an ad-free service, but the complaints were short-lived. In today’s attention deficit economy when social media backlash can be deafening, brands and brand leaders are potentially becoming more risk-averse than ever. But ultimately, there is a lesson in the fact that Western society’s most regularly used apps and services are businesses with which many customers feel conflicted about.
Take Roblox and Fortnite as further examples. There is a growing parental dilemma between the personal preference of wanting to shield kids from gaming, technology and screen time, which runs adjacent to the convenience parents find through it. Gaming gives parents headspace and freedom; giving a child a console or a tablet, a smartphone or a laptop is a convenient way to keep kids focused and quiet. This can be in stark conflict with the purity of a parents’ vision that they once imagined. Mothers and fathers are parenting in a completely different way; they often have a love-hate relationship with these brands and services. But still they buy.
It’s a compelling shift from the current brand and marketing narrative. When other brands are chasing customer connection, think about whether it makes more sense for your brand to be emotion-less, rather than emotion-led. Many of the brands that will withstand the test of time are the ones that focus primarily on making your product or service non-negotiable in the customer’s mind. Make your offering so persuasive, it becomes intuitive. Brands that truly shape customer behaviour are the ones that will define the industries of tomorrow.
It takes approximately three seconds to complete a purchase on Amazon. Many people end up greeted by its signature cardboard packages having forgotten what they ordered; customers are constantly fending off promotions, emails and sponsored posts from brands and inboxes are a graveyard of unopened mailers. Remember: convenience does not need to equate to blandness. Instead of trying to gain more share time of the customer’s mind, concentrate on creating an unforgettable moment that outlasts the three seconds it takes to checkout.
The market currently is divided between brands that offer meaning and an experience, and brands that offer convenience. The real value proposition for customers is a combination of both. It’s much harder to retrofit either narrative into any business; Look to create brand differentiation with purpose, but in tandem, build a truly excellent customer experience into the delivery. Embedding it early ensures both experiences scale as your business grows. Be a high effort brand that rewards low-effort buying. Be memorable and meaningful. Be fast, and fun.
By Grace Cook, Nicola Strange and Ben Gallagher. Image credits: Peloton, SATISFY, Pinterest. Images are used for editorial purposes only; all rights belong to their respective owners.