OVER TO YOU
Embed the Experience
Building blueprints for consistency, credibility and lasting impact.
Resources to accompany chapter 8 of Make Marketing Matter: Change perceptions. Drive performance. Architect growth.
Chapter snapshot
Coming soon
Why Embed the Experience matters
Coming soon.
Definitions in this chapter
embed the experience principle.
The practice of championing how individual touchpoints turn into a consistent, coherent, trustworthy experience over time.
pre-show, show, post-show stages tool.
A three-stage approach to experiences that prepares the audience before, delivers with intention during and reinforces value after the main touchpoint.
Check In
Take a moment to reflect on how consistent your business feels from the outside.
- Would two customers interacting with different teams describe the same experience of your business?
- Does the quality of your experience depend on the process, or on which individual happens to deliver it?
- When feedback reveals a poor experience, is it clear who owns the follow-up?
Take Action
Design the whole show for one interaction. Choose a meeting, an event, an onboarding call, or a process, and look at all three stages:
- Pre-show: Does your audience know what to expect, feel well informed and have clear guidance?
- Show: Does the touchpoint live up to expectations, and is it worth their time?
- Post-show: Are you creating memories, supporting next steps and reminding them of the value?
Most touchpoints focus on the show. Pick one improvement for the before or after.
Bring it to the room
Experience is delivered by the whole organisation so the blueprint has to be built with it.
Ask each leader, along with key stakeholders and customer-facing colleagues, to describe in three words what it should feel like to engage with your business. Group the words around your company values.
Then dig into the detail together. What do customers praise us for? Where do they get frustrated or lose confidence? When is trust gained or lost? What should never happen if we get experience right?
Capture the language used in the room. It becomes the foundation of your experience blueprint.
Related reading
The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore
This is the book that defined why experience matters commercially. Pine and Gilmore trace how economic value has progressed from commodities to goods, to services, to experiences, and argue that businesses now compete on the value and meaning they create, not simply what they sell. Their idea that "work is theatre" encourages businesses to stage experiences deliberately, and it's the inspiration behind the Pre-show, Show, Post-show stages in Chapter 8. It's the book to read if experience in your business is seen as a nice-to-have, and you want to understand why it commands attention, loyalty and pricing power that functional offerings alone cannot.
Harvard Business School Press, 2019.
Read their Harvard Business Review article here >
Back pocket arguments
- Forrester found that organisations aligning brand and customer experience achieve 3.5 times higher revenue growth alongside stronger retention and loyalty. Read the article >
- McKinsey & Company identified experience-led growth as a distinct strategy, finding that businesses focused on improving existing customer experiences can more than double growth compared with peers, while meaningful improvements in customer satisfaction can lift cross-sell rates by 15–20% and increase share of wallet by 5–10%. Read the article >
- PwC found that a substantial proportion of consumers have stopped buying from a brand due to poor experiences, online or in person. Their findings highlight that long-term loyalty depends on the connected interactions, moving customers from curious to committed. Read the research >
- Earlier PwC research also shows this, showing that repeated bad experiences cause consumers to leave, with a significant number walking away after a single poor interaction. Read the research >
Get the full picture
This page includes additional resources to support Chapter 8: Embed the Experience in the book Make Marketing Matter.
The chapter walks through defining your experience blueprint, designing with the five senses and measuring consistency through the 3D Dashboard. Make Marketing Matter is a comprehensive guide for marketing leaders and boardroom colleagues who want to build a marketing ecosystem that shows impact, links to outcomes, and leads to recognisable revenue.
30
Definitions
Clear, precise language that gives you a shared vocabulary for your ecosystem approach.
40
Practical Exercises
Consistent, repeatable actions that bring the ecosystem approach to life.
Preorder Make Marketing Matter
Make Marketing Matter: Change perceptions. Drive performance. Architect growth. is out on 20th October 2026.
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