Experience has become the deciding factor in customer loyalty and brand success, surpassing traditional metrics like sales and price. The ChangeUp Experience Report evaluates top retail and restaurant brands based on eight dimensions: Unprompted Visit Desire, Memorability, Novelty, Advocacy, Substitutability, Return Intent, Relevance, and Staleness. The report reveals that leaders like H-E-B, Costco, REI, and In-N-Out Burger excel across these dimensions, creating balanced and resonant experiences that customers desire, remember, and advocate for.
Key findings include:
- Retailers outpace restaurants in the rankings, with apparel, specialty, grocery, and Home/Hardware dominating. Restaurants face challenges in competing on experience, with only In-N-Out Burger and Texas Roadhouse breaking through.
- Top brands deliver balance across all eight dimensions, ensuring both present pull and future resilience. They are clear about their identity and consistently refresh their offerings.
- Experience as value is highlighted by convenience leaders like Wawa and Kwik Trip, demonstrating that even in commoditized categories, experience creates differentiation.
- Substitutability and relevance are critical, with brands like Fleet Feet and White House Black Market showing that distinctiveness outweighs ubiquity.
- The "mass middle" includes brands like Walmart and Target, which struggle to move beyond adequacy despite their scale and experimentation.
- Restaurants must evolve from transactional models to create memorable and shareable experiences. In-N-Out Burger exemplifies success through simplicity, consistency, and authentic appeal.
The report concludes that brands must protect what draws customers in, fix what pushes them away, and push forward with unique experiences to win the future. Authenticity, memorability, and resonance are the only enduring differentiators in an environment defined by volatility and choice.
