Simple Customer Experiences, A Competitive Factor That Is More Decisive Than Ever

Second article posted as part of my partnership with Paris Retail Week.

Siegel+Gale publishes an annual ranking of the “simplest brands” (the ones that makes their clients’ lives easier) based on an international opinion poll conducted with 12,000 consumers.

Simplicity is increasingly important in a world that is ever more complex. That is why these “simple brands” gain their clients’ loyalty and perform better financially than their competitors.

63% of consumers surveyed this year said they would pay more for a simpler customer experience and 69% are more likely to recommend a brand that provides a simplified customer experience.

The companies that came in the top 10 simplest brands have outperformed the stock market by 214% on average since the ranking began in 2009.

The 10 simplest brands chosen by consumers this year are:

1. ALDI
2. Google
3. Lidl
4. Netflix
5. McDonald’s
6. Burger King
7. IKEA
8. YouTube
9. eBay
10. Kentucky Fried Chicken

These brands are threatened by a group of disrupting brands that are improving existing customer experiences or creating new ones. Surprisingly, the report doesn’t rank the disrupters worldwide, so here is the American top 10:

1. Dollar Shave Club (and their famous motto “Shave Time, Shave Money“)
2. Warby Parker
3. Seamless
4. GoPro
5. The Honest Co.
6. Spotify
7. GrubHub
8. Pandora
9. Uber
10. Blue Apron

Incidentally, these two rankings show that the customer experience isn’t solely based on digitalization. That takes away a potential excuse for the lack of focus of certain companies on improving their customer experiences.