Why Simplicity Is the Key to a Great Customer Experience
The science behind why brands with the simplest CX are the most successful
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“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In my marketing career, there’s one thing I’ve learned: There’s very rarely a silver bullet in business. Success comes from a combination of factors. Operations, marketing, customer service, order fulfillment, brand, and market conditions all contribute to the bottom line.
But there’s one thing that the most-loved customer experiences all seem to share — simplicity.
Simplicity in experience makes a proven impact
The Simplicity Index, created by Siegel+Gale, is a yearly ranking of brands with the least complicated experiences. The consultancy’s research has drawn some compelling conclusions about the impact of distilled experiences:
- Simplicity drives love: 64% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand because of a simple experience.
- Simplicity drives growth: Since 2009, a stock portfolio made up of the simplest publicly traded brands (as defined by Siegel+Gale) has outperformed the market by 686%.
- Simplicity drives sales: 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for uncomplicated experiences.
The brands that set the bar for simplicity
Although they ranked dozens of brands, Siegel+Gale’s top three were diverse, successful, and unsurprising:
1. Netflix
“Whether you’re vegging out at home or aboard a cross-country red-eye, hosting your own personal Bill Murray retrospective or rewatching all 10 seasons of Friends is as easy as reaching a device, opening an app, and pressing Play. The platform takes ease of experience one step further, with algorithms that track your viewing patterns, eliminating the arduous decision-making process of what to watch next.”
2. ALDI
“With ‘easy-to-use’ stores and ‘direct and helpful’ information, ALDI understands the real path to its shoppers’ hearts is a…
