Creating Customer Experiences as Memorable as a Taylor Song

Great customer experiences should be more than just interactions—they should "never go out of style," leaving a lasting memory that has customers feeling like they’ve been treated to something extraordinary. The best brands are built on these moments, not on quick sugar hits or flashy campaigns. No matter how incredible your product is, what sticks with people is the experience and how you made them feel long after the purchase or interaction.

What I’m really saying is that our goal should be to create experiences that are as memorable as a Taylor Swift song—something that resonates deeply and gets stuck in people's minds.

But how do we create these unforgettable experiences? Here's a roadmap.

1. Define Your Customer Promise

Think of this as your guiding star. For example, Starbucks' customer promise is to "uplift the everyday." It’s simple, powerful, and clear.

To get this right, bring your frontline staff into the conversation. You can spend a fortune on customer research, but your biggest source of data and customer sentiment sits within your contact centre and customer care teams. They’re the ones on the ground, interacting with customers daily. Empower them to help define what your brand's promise should look like.

2. Determine Your Measures of Success

How will you know if you've delivered on that promise? Choose the fewest measures possible—ideally just one—and build your operations around it.

Your frontline teams should be fully engaged in this, and their development objectives should align with it. As Patrick Lencioni says, "If everything is important, then nothing is." When setting your metrics, ask yourself: if a Martian visited your organisation tomorrow, would they be able to tell what's important based on what you measure?

3. Build Operations to Match Your Promise

There’s often a mismatch between what companies say their customer promise is and how their operations actually run (particularly in contact centre and CX teams). Yes, customer-centricity is vital, but what’s often overlooked is that the key to delivering on your promise lies in how your operations empower employees to deliver great experiences.

Are your staff equipped with the right tools, processes, people, and culture to deliver memorable customer moments? Your frontline teams interact with thousands of customers every day—each interaction is an opportunity to leave a lasting impression. When your employees are empowered and clear on your customer promise, they’ll deliver something memorable to your customers.

In my last team, we talked a lot about creating moments that foster memories and inspire customers to engage deeper. It’s a lofty goal, sure, but the commercial return—through customer retention and advocacy—is more than worth it.

If your customer experience isn’t "sparking joy" like a Taylor Swift anthem, it’s time to rethink your approach. Let’s build experiences that last.