Stop Polishing Your Logo and Start Fixing Your Customer Journey

Every week I speak to business owners who proudly tell me about their brand refresh or their new website launch. They’ve spent months choosing fonts, colours, and making sure their homepage loads in under three seconds. All of that matters, of course. But I always find myself asking the same question: what is it actually like to be your customer?

Because brand and website are only half the picture. They get people in the door, but customer experience is what keeps them there. It’s the conversation after the first handshake. The part that makes people recommend you over brunch with friends, not just scroll past you on Instagram.

Let’s talk about why customer experience deserves just as much of your energy as your branding or website, and why ignoring it is a bit like buying a flash new fridge but never plugging it in.

The Power Trio: Brand, Website, and Experience

If you think of your business like a band, then:

• Brand is the lead singer: the charisma, the voice, the identity.
• Website is the stage: polished lights, slick visuals, a space to perform.
• Customer experience is the actual music: the thing that makes people stay for the encore, not just snap a photo for socials.

Without experience, the whole show falls flat. Your website might get the standing ovation, but if the “music” is off, no one comes back for the next tour.

What Customers Remember

Here’s the truth: customers don’t remember half the things you think they do.

• They won’t remember the exact shade of blue in your logo.
• They won’t recall the clever tagline you spent three weeks workshopping.
• They probably won’t even revisit your homepage after their first purchase.

What they will remember is how you made them feel.

• Did you make the process easy?
• Did you make them feel looked after?
• Did you deliver on what you promised?

Or, as Maya Angelou famously put it, “People will never forget how you made them feel.” Still true, still relevant.

The Cost of Ignoring Experience

Bad customer experience is expensive. It shows up in ways you might not notice straight away:

• Lost sales: A flashy website cannot fix a clunky sign-up form or unanswered emails.
• Reputation damage: Word-of-mouth spreads faster than a new Taylor Swift album drop. And unlike your curated Instagram grid, you cannot control the narrative.
• Staff turnover: Poor experience is not just external. When customers are frustrated, staff feel it too. And no one wants to deal with angry calls day after day.

It is easier and cheaper to retain happy customers than to constantly chase new ones. Yet so many businesses treat customer experience like an afterthought, when really it is the secret weapon.

Experience as Strategy, Not Just Service

Customer experience is not just customer service in a nicer outfit. It is strategic. It is the design of the journey, not just the apology after something goes wrong.

Think about:

• First impressions: How easy is it for someone to find information, book, or buy from you?
• During the relationship: Do your customers feel supported and valued, or left in the dark?
• After the purchase: Do you keep the conversation going, or do you ghost them like a bad Tinder date?

The best businesses build customer experience into every layer. It is not just the responsibility of a support team. It is baked into marketing, operations, tech, and culture.

A Few Truths I’ve Learned Along the Way

After years of working across brands in all sorts of industries, here are some truths about experience that stick:

• Shiny things do not fix broken systems. A rebrand or new website won’t save you if the experience underneath is clunky.
• The little things are the big things. A follow-up email, a smile in-store, remembering someone’s name. These stick.
• Customers talk. Good experiences are shared, bad experiences are broadcast.
• Data is your friend. If you don’t measure customer experience, you’re guessing. And guessing rarely pays off.

Where to Start (Without Overwhelm)

If this is all sounding like a lot, take a breath. Improving customer experience does not need to be a giant transformation project. Start simple:

• Map out your customer journey and highlight the pain points.
• Ask your customers what they actually think. Spoiler: they will tell you.
• Fix one or two obvious friction points before chasing perfection.

Ready for the Next Step?

If you are nodding along but not sure where to start, that is where my Customer Experience Audit comes in.

It is a practical, no-nonsense look at your current customer journey. I will help you spot the gaps, highlight the wins, and give you a clear roadmap to create experiences that make people come back for more (and tell their friends while they’re at it).

Because brand and websites matter. But without a solid customer experience to back them up, they are just glitter without glue.

Book your Customer Experience Audit today and let’s turn your “nice brand” into an unforgettable business.