In the modern economy, the customer experience has become a core driver of brand loyalty and growth. However, there exists a notable gap between the customer experience and what companies and marketers continue to promise, with many enterprises falling behind. Many organizations still operate in the market as if brand, marketing, and operations are separate considerations, leaving customers floundering and trying to create the brand story on their own.
This gap is making it difficult for companies to master the brand experience economy. Ipsos, one of the world’s largest and most well-known research and public opinion firms, has long been known for its focus on mystery shopping, customer experience (CX), and user experience (UX). Now, it is turning its focus to helping companies close that brand experience economy maturity gap, assisting them in building systems that speak to what customers want and connect insight to action.
The brand experience economy gap
Brand strategy has long been a siloed game. Customer experience, marketing, employee experience, and user experience have operated on separate planes. Traditionally, teams did not share data, communicate about shared goals, or even have a complete idea of what the full CX picture might look like. While some may see this as a problem with metrics or measurement, the Ipsos teams have identified it as a governance issue.
“Our customer experience findings show how widespread this issue is,” says Brad Christian, Chief Commercial Officer at Ipsos – Experience Practice. “Many organizations aren’t connecting employee experience and customer experience data, even though the two are very closely linked.”
This disconnect illustrates why so many brands struggle to translate CX and feedback into meaningful operational changes. The external promise remains detached from the internal experience, leaving the entire brand experience inconsistent from day one.
While brands may measure metrics such as survey scores or social media engagement, they may fail to ask whether the experience matches the brand. The brand-experience services from Ipsos emphasize that the real issue is not just whether customers are happy in single moments, but whether every interaction speaks to the brand’s mission and meaning.
Mature brands closing the gap
Modern, mature brands do not rely on one-off experiences. Instead, they look at experience as a continuous system. With the shared brand promise always in view, they align internal employee experience, research, design, and operations to create an entirely honest experience system.
“These high-performing brands understand insight and execution,” explains Christian. “They are ready to design their processes and systems for consistency.”
Ipsos has become adept at framing the experience journey as one of gaining maturity as a brand. “We help brands more effectively deliver on their brand promises,” says Christian.
The roadmap that Ipsos provides does not strive for perfection but for consistency and alignment with the brand mission.
The cost of falling behind
Businesses that fail to mature and don’t mind the gap can face several costs. Customers will notice when brand promises and delivery are misaligned. Leaders lose confidence in the CX data that they have collected, teams become frustrated, and the price is paid, ultimately, by the customer as the experience falters.
The reputational risk can be significant. Today’s customers are not just looking at direct competitors when they compare brands; they are looking for the best experience, no matter what the industry. While brands may be able to carry off a polished look in marketing for a while, the lack of attention to the experience will eventually show.
Closing the maturity gap
To close the maturity gap in brand experience, brands must think beyond feedback surveys and simple metrics. Companies have to be honest about their past approaches.
“Leadership needs to treat brand experience as a long-term consideration instead of a short-term fix,” says Christian. “The companies making real progress in customer experience are the ones who have learned how to integrate data to understand what matters most to their customers, identify where they may not be delivering on those expectations, and determine the financial ROI of driving on various brand experience investments.”
The brand experience economy will reward companies that create experiences that align with what they say with what they do.
Through research, data integration, and direction, Ipsos helps brands define the new era of the brand economy by meeting customer expectations and delivering consistent experiences. The result is brands that know how to forge strong bonds with their customers that stand the test of time by delivering a prime customer experience.
