In The Brand Flip, Neumeier describes the scale of ‘brand commitment’ as a ladder. The bottom rung is ‘Satisfaction’ – the customer has experienced your brand product or service and found it to be as expected. The next rung in the ladder is ‘Delight’ – they have experienced a level of surprise and delight with their interaction with your brand, this is the point in the customer relationship where they become loyal to your brand, experiencing an emotional response. Next up ‘Engagement’ – your customer subscribes to your brand tribe “With membership comes increasing loyalty, escalating repurchase habits, and an emotional attachment that goes far beyond patronage”. You know you’ve reached nirvana when your customer has reached the top rung on the ladder: ‘Empowerment’ – they depend on your brand for social status, personal growth or business success. These ‘empowered’ members of the brand tribe attract others, refer with confidence and stand by your brand promise.
From this, Neumeier devised an 8-step survey that measures how you’re progressing on the ladder.
