Last week, a partner asked me to conduct a branding workshop with their team, and I think it’s time to talk about the workshops we conduct because they are diverse, have different objectives, and address different topics.

There can be workshops for defining the brand’s DNA, identifying brand values, monitoring their evolution, identifying brand relevance and differentiation, identifying touchpoints, developing brand experience or the future of the brand. All of these go hand in hand with the brand strategy. We develop them with clients when we are working on a branding or rebranding project, or when we are working on a specific brand strategy project.

What is customer experience? It generally refers to the perception a client has about a brand based on the interactions they have with it. It encompasses all touchpoints a client has with the business, from navigating the brand’s website to interacting with the customer service team.

Often, there is confusion between the concepts of customer service and customer experience. The difference between the two is:

1. Customer service focuses on solving customer problems and addressing needs. Customer experience focuses on developing the perception a client has about a brand.
2. Customer service is subordinate to customer experience. It involves interactions with the customer care team and is limited to specific interactions. Customer experience, on the other hand, covers all touchpoints a client has with the brand, from the website and social media pages to receiving, unpacking, and using the product.
3. Customer service is a reactive process, meaning it responds to customer needs after problems have arisen. Customer experience is a proactive process, anticipating customer needs and providing solutions before they are requested. The better customer experience is developed, the less customer service is required.
4. Customer service is a short-term solution, addressing an immediate need and requiring immediate reaction to avoid losing the customer. Customer experience involves developing and maintaining a long-term relationship with the customer, prioritizing their needs, and ensuring customer loyalty.
5. Here lies the trap many local entrepreneurs fall into. Customer experience is a strategic exercise that is not visible in the communication of multinational brands, which are often used as benchmarks. Therefore, entrepreneurs tend to cut this vital stage from the branding process. Their focus is on developing procedures for customer service departments. It’s not wrong, but it’s practically better to anticipate what needs the customer might have rather than leaving the experience chain to chance and only addressing problems as they arise. And if these are handled by an outsourced call center, the experience the brand offers can suffer from the early stages of its life.

When and with whom is the customer experience workshop developed?

Ideally, at the moment of developing the branding process. It’s not wrong to do it later as a separate stage. While designers focus on creative explorations of look & feel, the mixed team – agency & client – develops such an initiative. The results of the workshop are then used in brand materials – it could be visual materials, different texts aligned with the lexical-semantic field and brand voice tone used in various circumstances (from how to welcome someone to the format of the email signature). Typically, the workshop is conducted top-down and then rolled out further with other departments. Such exercises involve the entire organization through representatives of various departments, not just the marketing department.

While customer service focuses on solving problems, customer experience refers to creating a positive interaction with the brand at all touchpoints. The primary focus on customer experience, followed by customer service, ensures long-term customer loyalty and brand success.