Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, famously leaves an empty chair in every board meeting to represent the voice of the consumer. He attributes Amazon’s wild success to their laser focus on the customer experience.

So how might more companies make the customer experience top of mind and refine their brand strategy?

Well, let’s start by saying that knowing about your customer complaints and/ or measuring digital sentiment is NOT having your consumer represented in the boardroom.

Recently, I attended a networking gig where two CEOs of retail brands were on a panel answering questions about their business. During question time I asked how these well regarded CEOs kept their consumer at the top table and this was the answer I received.

“Keeping the consumer top of mind is one of my passions and in fact getting the consumer represented in the boardroom is a goal of mine”

Here are some ideas for CEOs on how to keep the consumer at the top table:

1. Make the consumer an agenda point in those meetings. Integrate the consumer data and build the commercial strategies from that information.

2. Apply a ROI measurement to consumer activity – we suggest a brand equity score linked to actual consumer behaviour.

3. Determine whether there is a gap between the benefit your brand provides and what consumers are looking for. If a gap exists, create a roadmap for change to make you’re your company is working to adapt according to consumer demand.

Companies like Domino’s with their Pizza Mogul and Disneyworld with their park bracelets are doing more than recording consumer complaints and this is clearly evident in their brand success.