4 reasons customer perception impacts success

In essence, a customer’s perception of your business refers to how they view your brand, such as the products you sell and the services you offer. It’s a general feeling that people get. Sadly, it has two downfalls. Firstly, consumers may dislike you for no reason whatsoever. Secondly, it’s almost impossible to collate and evaluate.

Therefore, it’s tempting to say that how people perceive your company is out of your hands and there’s nothing you can do. Why bother trying to please those who can’t be pleased? It’s a good question, and it’s easy to see where your frustrations come from, yet ignoring customer perception is a slippery slope.

You must be aware of the effect a brand can have on a wide range of shoppers. If you don’t, you’ll pass-up leads and opportunities to expand the business. Here are four reasons that perception impacts success.

Kerb appeal is powerful

Have you ever walked past a house and thought, “Wow, that looks amazing! I bet the owners have a few quid?!” To judge a book by its cover is the easiest thing in the world because your worldview encourages you to arrive at the quickest and most logical decision. Of course, people and things are much more complicated.

Still, this won’t prevent passers-by from spotting luxury London apartments and assuming the owners are multimillionaires or billionaires. And the same applies to your business. If you have office space or a shop with kerb appeal, you can piggyback off the idea that you’re successful. The reality may be very different – you could only have launched and have thousands of pounds of debt – yet nobody will know.

Never underestimate the way the human brain works and how it encourages consumers to buy products and services from establishments they believe to be high-end.

Word travels fast

Word of mouth advertising used to be the gold standard of the marketing world. Now, it seems as if it’s lost favour with the suits and big-wigs who are focused on using social media networks and the internet to broaden their reach. However, when it comes to customers, there is nothing better than an old-fashioned chat.

Shoppers talk, and when they do, their opinions affect their peers, even if they haven’t sampled your customer experience yet. This phenomenon has been around for decades, and it won’t stop any time soon. As a result, companies must go the extra mile from a customer service perspective.

If they don’t, they’ll tell their friends and family of their disappointing experience, who’ll pass it on to their contacts. The cycle continues until, before you know it, you’ve received a reputation from people who haven’t bought a single item.

Principles mean a lot

Consumerism is something that changes regularly. At the start of the Millennium, shoppers didn’t care about where goods came from as long as they were cheap. Today, attitudes have adapted with the times. After all, the world is more aware of the effects of consumerism than ever before.

You can try and avoid the topic, but it’s tough. Merely failing to state your position is enough for moralistic shoppers to bounce to a sustainable competitor. 96% of people feel their actions can make a difference, and they want a vehicle to help them reach their destination. That vehicle is you. Therefore, immoral or amoral brands are directly positioned against consumers’ principles, which isn’t a healthy place to be.

Once people see you as unhelpful, it’s challenging to convince them that you also want to fight the good fight.

PR is engaging

There is already a perception that businesses only want one thing – money. Even if you are doing everything in your power to lend a hand and make a difference, you can be tarred with a brush. This is because consumers believe that brands are greedy and will do anything to improve their bottom line.

For you, this means you must prove that you’re not part of the problem. To do that, you’ve got to engage audiences and highlight how and why you’re different. Sponsoring a local charity event may be played out, yet it’s a tactic several companies use as it’s evidence of their desire to give back. When local communities see that you’re using your platform wisely, they’ll be happier to invest in your products and services.

Customer perception impacts success since you can look bad in the eyes of the public without realising that you’ve done something wrong.

14/10/2020