Aloha. In today’s issue:

• Editorial: The Experience Stack & The Value (Or Cost) Of A Single Interaction

• The Latest: TikTok Enters eCommerce

• BX: Build Brand Loyalty — Not Deal Loyalty

• MX: The Trader Joe’s Podcast: TJ’s Number One Marketing Channel

• UX: The Ultimate Black Friday Threat: Your Own Website??

• CX: The Chamber of Commerce On How to Improve CX With AI

• EX: How To Empower Employees To Build Their Personal Brands

• DX: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion Of Privacy

Let’s get to it.

The value (or cost) of a single interaction

Everyone is after transactions, and who can blame them? It drives sales and revenue, and hopefully, profit margins.

But… transactions are the result of interactions. Interactions with your marketing, your website, your store, your products, your packaging, your team, your email sequences, and on and on.

Lose on the interactions, lose out on the transactions. It’s that simple, and that hard. Here’s Seth Godin’s take:

If an interaction can be so valuable that it creates a talk trigger, to use Jay Baer’s terminology, or so costly, that it wipes out tens of thousands in future revenue, then why isn’t more thought and energy devoted to “interactions” by more companies?

And I only ask that question because I’ve had, in the past few days alone, business interactions that turned me completely off and killed any prospect of doing business with them again. And that’s not good for anybody, especially that company’s (or freelancer’s) bottom line.

The Experience Stack

Every interaction stacks on top of each other. If a critical interaction is off kilter, it will affect the entire experience.

Interactions are part of a journey, and journeys are interconnected layers that add up to the entire brand experience (BX). The BX is made up of all the other Xs:

Marketing / Media X: This includes everything from the first ad someone sees to the social media posts they interact with to your website. It's the "first impression" layer of the stack.

User X: This is all about the product or service experience. How easy is your website to navigate? How intuitive is your product? This layer is crucial for conversion and retention.

Customer X: This goes beyond just using the product; it's about the entire post-purchase experience. Think customer service, loyalty programs, and even the unboxing experience if you're a physical product.

Data X: Customers might not see this layer but they definitely feel it. It's how you use data to personalize experiences, make recommendations, and even predict needs.

Employee X: Happy employees create happy customers. This layer is about internal culture, training, and even the tools employees have to do their jobs effectively.

Each X feeds into each other. Your total experience is only as good as your weakest experience. And you can find weak links when you examine your interactions.

One of those critical interactions, particularly for eCommerce, is your search experience. If you want to know how much of a threat “search” is for your shop, please skip to the UX section of this newsletter.

These interactions mean everything for the business because each one generates an experience for someone.

To keep it simple, let’s just focus on three types of emotional experiences:

• Positive

• Neutral

• Negative

The Neutral Experience

The most scary experience of all is the neutral, where little to no emotion is generated. Sometimes this can be good, in the sense that your design is so invisible, that one interaction leads to the next one. Sometimes this can be bad, because a “meh” experience is least likely to generate any useful data, and then *bam*, people walk away, and you don’t know why.

• The Silent Killer: A neutral experience is often called the "silent killer" of customer engagement. It doesn't provoke anger or delight; it just exists. And because it doesn't trigger a strong emotional response, it often goes unnoticed and unaddressed.

• The Risk of Complacency: When experiences are neutral, there's a risk of complacency on both sides. Customers might not feel motivated to explore more of your offerings, and businesses might not feel the urgency to improve.

• The Missed Opportunity for Branding: Every interaction is an opportunity to reinforce your brand's unique value proposition. A neutral experience is a missed opportunity to do that. It's like serving a meal that isn't bad but isn't memorable either. Sure, it fills the stomach, but it doesn't enrich the soul.

• Data Blind Spots: Neutral experiences rarely generate data points. They don't lead to customer reviews, social media mentions, or even customer service interactions. This makes it hard to track them and even harder to improve upon them.

• The "Meh" Factor: In a world where customer expectations are continually rising, "meh" experiences can be a brand's downfall. They open the door for competitors who offer something—anything—more engaging.

• The Paradox of Choice: Sometimes, neutral experiences are the result of overwhelming customers with too many choices, leading to decision paralysis. The experience isn't bad; it's just... overwhelming in its mediocrity.

• The Long-Term Impact: While one neutral experience might not be detrimental, a series of them can lead to customer churn. It's the slow drip that eventually empties the bucket.

I hope this is useful. Next week, I’ll share the BrandTouch Framework, another lens to view your interactions through. It’s something we’re purposefully building into Rep.

Got thoughts on the Experience Stack or your own tales of interaction triumphs and fails? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Now, let’s get into some headlines.

The Latest

TikTok Launches ‘Shop’ in the US

The TikTok invasion continues, and this time, they’re coming for your wallets. They tested their eCommerce feature in China, with great results.

And even Shopify has fully integrated with TikTok Shop, so you can sell there as well:

More on this here:

Inflation means more consumers will seek deals — especially during the holidays

A survey from Kenco found that:

And if you’re supply chains generally take a hit around peak holiday season, you might want to consider this:

This type of cybercrime is on the rise — from Visa

From the article:

Retail-specific attacks on the rise

False, spoofed, or counterfeit retailers: Consumers are being targeted through websites that seem like those of legitimate retailers, established to take customers' orders, but not fulfill the goods or services ordered and instead steal customers’ payment account information.

‘Malvertising’: Some scammers are developing fake ads to try to obtain personal information. Consumers are targeted with search engine-optimized scams based on what they might be interested in legitimately purchasing.

Flash-fraud scams: Flash fraud retailers, also known as “bust-out schemes,” establish a legitimate e-commerce site and process a small number of legitimate payments to establish credibility, are also on the rise. Once a satisfactory payment processing history is established, the seller suddenly submits a large number of fraudulent transactions—often using stolen payment account data – and disappears after obtaining the funds from stolen accounts.

Free gift scams: In this scam aimed at cryptocurrency users, bad actors will offer a “free gift” through a pop-up window asking the victim to confirm the transaction. When clicked, it delivers a malicious download including a file with malicious NFT, allowing fraudsters to communicate with the victim’s digital wallet and authorize cryptocurrency transfers from the victim to the fraudster.

Just FYI, as the holiday season cometh.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your weekend and see you next week.

Pau