How scientific notation can help your brand

What’s the purpose of scientific notation in the math and science world? To simplify numbers by emphasizing their most relevant traits and reducing them to more usable scales. Scientific notation teases out what’s important for the problem at hand and ignores the rest.

The same could be said for brand building. Companies must distill the essence of what’s important and eliminate the clutter so a brand’s inherent truths come through.

Simplifying experiences can have a significant impact on companies’ profits. In a poll by Siegel+Gale of more than 6,000 people across the world, respondents said they would pay between 5.5 and 6.6 percent more for simpler experiences, depending on the industry.

Unfortunately, the poll also found that simplicity in one region doesn’t always translate to simplicity in another. What is a simple customer experience and how can it extend to a global customer base?

Extending the logic of scientific notation, I’d argue that simple customer experiences have two parts:
1. Relevance: Is the offering and content relevant to me or must I sift through noise?
2. Usability: Can I access, understand and implement the offering and content in my routine?

But how to be relevant?

Pre-filter content with personal profiles

Eventbrite and Ikea are great at providing relevant content by having customers build profiles using checklists, budgets, timeframes and complementary mobile apps. Content is immediately and always pre-filtered, with the option of expanding results later.

Accelerate feedback loops

Hulu’s ad-polls let viewers give feedback and update the viewing experience immediately. With all of the share icons and comment sections across the web, customers are primed and willing to provide their thoughts on how you’re doing.

How to be useful?

Follow best practices in customer-centricity

If you can’t maintain databases for customer profiles, try to adhere to best practices in customer-centricity. Test and improve signage, layout and services across touchpoints so they’re based on customer rather than organizational needs. While storytelling can build brand loyalty, over-sharing slows down customers’ experiences. Focus on their context.

Fit in

There are no longer patterns for who will shop where, when or why. Take into account how behaviors change from increased accessibility and mobility.

Three Sheets Research, a market research company, only studies intoxicated consumers. The company saw that 10% of digital purchases happen after midnight and that location-based apps are often used for late-night meals and bar crawls. In these settings, customers may be less technically savvy than usual and have more difficulty using your mobile offerings. If you are able to successfully convert this audience into customers, you have the potential to significantly increase your profits in aggregate.

Scaling back to global

The best part of scientific notation is that you experience numbers on a relevant and useful scale, and then return later to true quantities. It may seem trivial to improve customer experience in these small instances, but their small size makes them cheap investments. Multiply each by a global population and you’ve augmented your scale immensely.