Understanding consumer experience to build brand loyalty

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In the past, the product was the centre of attention. Now the consumer is the focus. Consumer behaviour and needs are a fount of information for the development of a successful consumer experience. Why is the concept of consumer experience important? What are the key points to optimise? How do you build consumer loyalty?

Companies need to understand their consumers so they can adapt their products and communicate positively to increase their value. Until now, the consumer was understood using utilitarian logic: need, purchase, satisfaction (or lack thereof). This narrow view was overturned by pioneering work by Holbrook and Hirschman in 1982, which presented the consumer in a new experiential way.

What is the consumer experience? Is it a single event or a series of events? What is the impact on the buying process, or on consumer loyalty? What contributes to a successful consumer experience? There are many questions, but answers are only just emerging. Management research centres and the food industry have a common goal: finding the keys to develop more effective, value-added campaigns to improve consumer experience and, ultimately, build consumer loyalty.

Professor Marc Filser, Doctor of Economics, State Doctor of Management Sciences and Director of the CREGO, explains why studying consumer behaviour and experience is useful.

The consumer: a valuable source of information

Traditionally considered from a purely economic angle, the consumer was just a buyer. Utilitarian logic was applied with precise objectives and optimised behaviour considering constraints such as budget, travel, and timing. The experience approach transfers the focus of the purchase process toward a more global view of consumption: the purchase process, product use, the consumer’s relationship with the product, after-sales services, etc.  

As a result, all consumer behaviour is analysed with responses to a variety of objectives: pleasure, belonging, esteem, symbolism, etc. Mr. Filser takes pleasure in reminding us, "The experience is an interaction with a product that must be pleasant, memorable and meaningful to the consumer" (Kwortnik and Ross, 2007). How does consumption provide hedonistic gratification? How can it find its way into a consumer’s memory? How can it give purpose? Observing consumers is becoming a valuable source of information for the marketing sector.

Don't rely on your intuition

Drive-throughs: the importance of conducting consumer experience studies

"Everyone wants to offer consumer experience but no one really understands what it means," Marc Filser says. Incorrect presumptions are often made about what makes a successful consumer experience, which is why it is important to conduct methodical and scientific studies into the subject.

One study by Marc Filser and his team into the buying process produced counter-intuitive results. They analysed consumer experience in drive-throughs such as Auchan, one of the first French retailers to install drive-throughs. When asked the question: “What makes the food buying process in a drive-through positive?” we imagine answers such as “the way the shopping is prepared” or “it saves time”. But their study showed that that the satisfaction of drive-through buyers depends first and foremost on the quality of interaction with delivery staff. "Despite it only taking a few minutes!”  Major chains quickly acted to take advantage of this observation by focusing on personalised interactions between delivery staff and customers. Staff are an important element of the buying process and their words and actions persist in the memory, even for a drive-through.

After the sale: memories are powerful for building loyalty

Studying consumer experience should not be limited to the stages before or during the buying process. In 2016, the thesis by CREGO’s Michael Flacandji revolutionised studies in this field, focusing on three components of the consumer experience: memories of before, during and after.

Without challenging the concept of customer satisfaction, Michael Flacandji highlights the importance of memories – which are much more predictive of customer loyalty than satisfaction. Memories can be factual, such as: "I remember the cake box was yellow and red". But to have lasting impact on consumer experience and loyalty, they must be rich, easily accessible and have purpose.

The research (thesis available online) received the award for the best French thesis in marketing awarded by the FNEGE and the French marketing association. Its results provide very actionable operational leads to help brands to manage customer memory.

In conclusion: a revolution is vital

Traditional theoretical frameworks previouslyused by Marc Filser and his team are quickly exhausted. The concepts were developed in a slower world where interaction took time. "We currently live with immediacy and pervasiveness," he admits.

We have everything, all the time, everywhere and instantly. It is therefore necessary to develop consumer behaviour models and distribution channel analysis. Observation is required. We must observe consumer experience, behaviour, business models and practices then produce new explanatory models for interaction. To that end, Vitagora is working with BSB on an academic chair for the Evolution of business models in the food industry. This includes, for example, the influence of digital platforms on individuals. "Using new technologies is positive but we need to ask what influence they will have on the consumer!” concludes Mr. Filser.

Keywords

Behaviour, customer, purchasing, consumption, experience, marketing, research, management

Further reading

• Michael FLACANDJI, "Du souvenir de l'expérience à la relation à l'enseigne. Une exploration théorique et méthodologique dans le domaine du commerce de détail" (co-direction Jean-Luc Herrmann), Décembre 2015. Prix 2016 de la meilleure thèse de Marketing décerné par la FNEGE et l'Association Française du Marketing.
• Sandrine HEITZ-SPAHN, "Comportement des consommateurs dans un environnement multi-canal : exploration de la préparation de la décision et de l'achat", Novembre 2011.
• Claire ROEDERER, "L'expérience de consommation : exploration conceptuelle, méthodologique et stratégique", Novembre 2008.
• Claire ROEDERER et Marc FILSER (2015), "Le marketing expérientiel. Vers un marketing de la cocréation", Vuibert, Paris.