Brands around the world set a low bar for the experiences they deliver and struggle to keep up with consumers’ expectations, according to a new report from Jack Morton.

The brand experience agency surveyed 6,000 consumers across the US, UK and China, asking them to rate promised and actual brand experiences covering 100 brands and 10 industries for its first global Experience Brand Index.

More than half (52%) of consumers reported that brands fail to live up to the promises they make, while one-third saw overpromising as “just something that brands do”.

But delivering on promises through the experiences they create has a real business benefit. Brands scoring highly on the Index had a more than 200% higher Net Promoter Score (NPS), indicating strong brand health, and could also boast 25% more loyalty.

Satisfaction with the actions and interactions of brands is a stronger indicator of business impact than brands’ marketing messages, the study observed.

“Brand touchpoints are proofpoints,” it added. “Every interaction matters and the most successful Experience Brands deliver consistently across all interactions with consumers and actions.”

Specific brand experiences covered by the Index included in-store and employee interactions, online shopping, web and mobile experiences, experiential and social content.

While it can be difficult to ensure consistency, this is vital to maintaining brand integrity since almost half of respondents were prepared to abandon brands that don’t live up to their promise.

And “brand proof” – delivering on the promised experience – is only going to get more important if brands are to connect with sceptical younger consumers.

Millennials were the most distrustful of brands (36% globally), while 41% in the US believed brands do not live up to their promises and “want me to believe it is something it’s not”.

Amazon, Netflix and Royal Caribbean ranked as Experience Leaders (#1) across all experience touchpoints in the US, UK and China respectively; only four other brands consistently showed up in the top 20 across touchpoints: Sony, Apple, IBM and IKEA.

Sourced from Jack Morton; additional content by WARC staff