Brand and customer relationships are in crisis. This was a key finding of the WePioneer report  ‘Human Connection: The Beating Heart of Resilient Brands’.

Yet relationship building is what separates brands from their competitors. Over 20 years in brand, the companies that have stood tallest in the marketplace have always been the ones who really pay attention to what their customers need and work not just to be a product or service, but to have a real role in their lives.

Yet striving towards that connection has slipped down priority lists. Research from the UK Institute of Customer Service shows that customer satisfaction levels dropped 1.8 points last year, falling to their lowest level since 2015. Consumers are gearing up for a fight in every customer service interaction. They’re not being heard because for too long, brands haven’t listened. But there is a real desire to change that.

To ignite that spark for change at the end of January, at IHG’s Kimpton Fitzroy, we gathered a diverse group of brand and marketing leaders to discuss the role of human connection in brand building. With figures from the worlds of hospitality, retail, tech, luxury, professional services and property, including IHG, Onefinestay, Harvey Nichols and Hamleys, as well as SMEs such as Exordi and Yawn, we were able to gain a holistic view of brands’ pressures and questions across diverse industries.

Through the conversations, it was clear: without working to build real, meaningful connections with customers, brands are veering into a trust disaster and pushing themselves towards a cliff. Here are the key themes from the discussion: 

1. Consumers want brands to be more human. And brands are responding. 

Hospitality brands in the room discussed increasing their investment in their people and their culture to elevate the quality of experience and respond to what their research shows their customers want. In the luxury and retail sectors in particular, there’s been a huge post-pandemic appetite for more human connection. They’re working to make their experiences more democratic – less ‘exclusive’ without losing the aspirational nature of luxury – and more human in the way they express themselves.

2. Brands are shifting towards their customers again. 

What stood out through each sector was the value of listening. The brands that have those deeper relationships with their customers are the ones who talk to them and harness available data to hear what they have to say. They use that data to understand what their needs are rather than just to sell more to them reflexively.

3. The ways that tech is integrated into customer experiences is firmly on the minds of business leaders.

It’s absolutely not a question of ‘humans vs. tech’, as it’s so often framed. It’s about balancing the human touch with systems designed in the name of maximum efficiency and ease for the customer. If the changes you make to your experience aren’t making your customers happier, then any money ‘saved’ initially will become redundant.

More than anything else, discussions surrounding the use of technology in brand experience are what’s keeping brand leads up at night. But the central question remains: how much technology has been introduced into customer experience with the customers’ needs actually in mind?

It’s all about the way it’s used: ineffective chatbots, poorly functioning self-checkouts, the impossibility of speaking to another person to solve an issue — these are what drives wedges between brands and their customers. Each issue is rooted in attempts to make things more efficient, but if approached as a money-saving exercise rather than something to make customers’ easier, they’re doomed to fail.

Some consumers seek less tech, and others more, with direct connection in their customer experiences. The answer is, of course, a mix of both. The most important thing is that any tech is being implemented in the right moment to add value to a customer’s life. Some companies and industries are inherently more tech-led, but the recent rise of ‘challenger’ banks with excellent customer experiences is indicative of the necessity of building with a human lens on the experience.

We really believe that the basis of connection and real relationships are what sets brands up for the long term, and it was fantastic to see how much commitment there is among business leaders to strive for more and more of it. The relationships we build are what differentiates our brands. That’s the source of strength, the platform for growth, and the shield against the restless tides of the future.