5 August 2024 Alessia Carniato
Journal of Experiences
In one of our “Open Places” we welcomed customers from the leading chocolate players to listen and observe their real experiences with products and understand how to improve the omni-channel experience with brands.
There’s a box of chocolates on the table, still sealed, but you already feel the smell of cocoa in the whole room. The opening and the crackling of the silver wrap rekindles a very clear memory: it is Christmas Eve and under the tree of grandparents there is the inevitable red box of Lindor.
Not only the taste of chocolate turns a simple moment into an authentic and memorable experience, but the whole ritual accompanies its tasting: The sharing of an emotion with loved ones, the choice from the shelf, the desire for comfort after a heavy day or simply a personal pleasure, to each his own.
In this perspective, when does the consumer experience really start and where does it end? What are the dynamics that influence purchasing choices?
We asked those who, that experience, lives it in everyday life, offering companies the opportunity to listen, without filters, the real story of their customers.
The perception of the brand and the product
The project “Open Places” in TSW continues. In June, we conducted a survey on the experience that leading chocolate brands offer their customers.
During the meeting, people shared their impressions about product quality, packaging and brand image.
- “Venchi has shops with chocolate fountains”,
- “Lindt always find it at the supermarket”,
- “Novi remember the acronym in memory”,
- “Perugina is a must on Valentine’s Day”.
This is only a small part of what has emerged: a set of different lived, each hooked to an emotion or a specific memory that goes to actively influence the choice of purchase. These perceptions represent an invaluable treasure for companies, as they reflect not only the quality of the product, but also the values, consistency and emotions that the brand is able to convey, and maintain, over time.
Designing an omni-channel experience
The daily shopping choices, like those we make at the supermarket when we want to buy a bar of chocolate, see people going through the famous shopping funnel at high speed. That’s why it is important for brands to know how to take every opportunity to be found and choose in a competitive scenario certainly crowded.
In the context of GM, in particular, there are many shelf strategies that influence consumers’ purchasing decisions (not by chance we speak of “shelf marketing” to describe the strategies that “catch” us between the lanes and that unconsciously drive the way in which we fill the carts).
And yet there are brands that, despite everything, we go to look in the corner on the left of the lowest shelf, because we have had a particularly satisfactory experience with the product, because a friend told us about it, because we read some content online that intrigued us.
It is precisely the ability of companies to create and live an omni-channel experience that has also been a winner from the results of our research project: designing a brand ecosystem that conveys value beyond the product itself – which is often mere commodity without the brand’s narrative – is the only way to be relevant.
Consumer experiences and packaging
For companies, recognizing and enhancing customer experiences does not only mean improving the product, but also, and above all, strengthening that emotional bond that strongly affects the future purchasing experience.
This bond, turns into brand loyalty that goes beyond the simple product preference. Companies that can connect with these people can create more effective marketing campaigns and products aligned with their audience.
And how much does the product packaging count in the purchase choice? Very much.
On this occasion, as in other of our research, it emerged that the design of packaging is a determining driver of choice to work on to influence shelf shopping choices. Understanding what people want, and simply listening to their needs, becomes the starting point for designing new opportunities for growth together.
TSW: Research centre to improve experiences
The TSW “Open Places” project is a meeting point for companies that design the product, and people to whom this product is dedicated.
Listening to people, involving them directly, is the first step in creating products and services that concretely meet their expectations. With people, we understand how to make change happen and together with open companies, we make it a reality.