There are several ways to establish this type of relationship. A key enabler of the connection is the exchange of knowledge, to guide customers through their education. A connection that shows customers that the brand is paying attention to them, pushing it to be perceived as increasingly human, relevant and “present” in the everyday lives of its final customers.
Teaching means educating consumers not only about the use and consumption of the product they are buying, but also about the context of its use. This helps to establish a deeper relationship with the user, which goes beyond simple purchases and moves in the direction of brand loyalty.
Educating the customer brings this relationship to a whole new level. Which brands are showing us that relationships can (also) mean education?
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe‘s has applied this concept in a way that is almost covert, but extremely effective and impactful. What it has managed to do is teach the American population to eat healthily whilst staying within a limited budget. This is a fundamental constraint for customers, which Trader Joe’s has met with lower prices and special offers on healthy products. A matter of extreme importance in a country where the obesity rate in adults has exceeded 35%. Another key element is the impact of the brand’s communication, that can take advantage of the presence of 467 stores in 41 countries.
IKEA
One of the most innovative brands of all time, IKEA has always taken the end user’s point of view into account, allowing customers to create their own designs, an ideology which lies at the heart of the company’s value proposition. Thanks to its design software, IKEA has shown people of all generations how to create and define their own styles, making the task easier and simpler. It has taught billions of people how to furnish their own homes with ease; an objective that it has never stopped working towards, and that gets updated over the years. This is also thanks to the new app IKEA Place, that uses augmented reality to allow customers to virtually “try out” the brand’s furniture in their own homes.
H&M
The road that leads to a brand becoming memorable to its target market is built on an effective customer experience, carefully researched at each one of its touchpoints. Every brand has the goal of establishing a connection with its customers, and education brings the relationship between company and customer to a deeper, more intimate level. It is a continuous dialogue, the product of exchanges of information between company and customer that, at its peak, is in every way similar to the exchange of values between two individuals, between two humans that both improve themselves by interacting with each other.
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