Love me!
It’s Valentine’s Day, so let’s talk about love. But from a business/brand/UX perspective. Not so long ago, every company was talking about how they wanted to become a “love brand”.
When I worked at a design agency, I remember a big marketing manager of a big client saying things like “Right now we are just a regular brand. But we want to become a love brand! Here is our strategy.” And then what followed was a slidedeck with lots of marketing theories and bulletpoints, and how as a love brand, the company would of course attract more customers.
It reminded of the movie Bruce Almighty, in which Bruce (Jim Carrey) desperately wants to be loved by Grace (Jennifer Aniston). God gives Bruce all his powers and he tries everything to make her love him. At one point, he even pulls the moon closer to impress her. But despite all his godly powers, nothing could make her love him, which this scene nicely illustrates:
That’s the thing about love. It cannot be forced. If humans can’t make someone love them, then companies sure as hell can’t.
Yet there’s a handful of companies that are loved all around the world. Apple, Disney, Lego. What makes them so lovable? Do they have a “love brand strategy”? Are they applying magical marketing theories, enchanting their customers? Of course not.
These companies know that love is not something you receive, it is something you give. Apple, Disney and Lego put a lot of love into their products. They make sure that the utmost care and attention goes into their products, even if customers don’t know that. Apple puts work into details most people will never even notice! And if you look closely, you can read “LEGO” on every single stud on every single brick.
I love Lego. I have 35 year old Lego bricks lying at my parent’s house that you can’t tell apart from brand new ones. Now that my daughter is old enough to play with Lego, we can play together, which makes me love Lego even more.
So if you really want your customers to love you, it’s very simple. Show them that you love them, without expecting anything in return. Put love into every word you write to them. Put love into every interaction of your app. Put love into every icon you design and into every line of code. And then if you’re lucky, your customers might love you back.