Qualitative tools need to be used in tandem with quantitative tools for a well-rounded approach to achieving Wowability. These qualitative tools can be used to spot lucrative areas and generate ideas. The three techniques that I suggest are laddering, brainstorming and mind mapping. Laddering most simply put is a form of in-depth questioning that allows delving deep into the core of the consumer psyche. Brainstorming is a creative technique of generating ideas to solve a problem. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas or tasks or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. These tools can provide amazing results when used appropriately.

On understanding the main concept that brands need to consistently exceed expectations and delight, we need to know where they should focus on. The quantitative tools described in the Wowability book allow us to do just that by helping identify which contact points brands can first focus on, in order to achieve Wowability.

Tool 1, the Wow Score, is a survey which firstly establishes the level of importance of contact points from consumers’ point of view. Then it determines how familiar they are with the contact points and finally if these contact points have exceeded consumers’ expectations or not. The Second tool, the Wowability test, identifies how well the brand is performing in comparison to its competitors. This tool is designed to be quick and inexpensive yet highly effective. The third tool, the FAR paradigm, shows the brand at which dimensional stage it is in rather than just showing the strength of each contact point. Two matrices, FAR paradigm familiarity matrix and FAR paradigm reputation matrix, are used to map the brand.

Communicational Contact points refer to advertising, public relations activities and other communicational activities. They add to functional as well as emotional values.

Achieving Wowability in communicational contact points ultimately hinges on the creativity of its creators in both the choice of the medium and the contents of the message. One of the key communicational contact point is advertising, which basically means any paid form of communication. Advertising holds tremendous importance as it can be controlled by the company directly to portray a certain brand image. Other examples of communicational contact points include online reviews, blogging, product placement in movies and TV shows, blinks, and advertising on the public transportation system among others.

Emotional contact points are those that hold mostly emotional value and can elicit emotional responses from consumers. The advantage of using emotional contact points is that it is not necessarily expensive to add value to them. Instead brands must have an active state of mind; to consciously want to improve them. Major generic emotional contact point includes price, customer service, usage experience, branding and design. Only with vision and in-depth stakeholder study can these contact points be converted into Wow points.

Functional Contact Points are contact points that are directly related to the functional aspects of the product and hold mostly functional value. The best way to increase the value of these contact points is to increase efforts taken for research & development or innovation that would improve the inherent technology. However, the market that we face today replicates technology easily such that any Wowability created is easily eroded. Thus, to maintain the Wowability that a brand has, it has to tap into other groups of contact points to gain a stronger hold on its Wowability. But having said that functional contact points are essential. Some of the more generic functional contact points include features, quality, convenience, and even location. Brands need to understand this group of contact points and how to create Wow points out of them.

First of all, how do Contact points differ from Touchpoints?

Well, there are many elements of a brand that cannot be categorized as touchpoints. For example how does a brand’s story (like the story of KFC) or a brand leader’s importance to a brand (like Steve Jobs’ importance to Apple) get represented by the regular brand touchpoints?  It doesn’t. Similarly there are many elements of a brand that are not direct ’touch’ points (like brand reputation) but have immense value for the brand and are not captured by the touch points methodology.

These weaknesses can be overcome by using the Contact points methodology.

Contact points are defined as all experiences through which directly, or indirectly, consumers come in contact with the brand or obtain information about the brand. There are three types of contact points – Functional, Emotional, and Communicational. Consumers attach varying importance and expectations to different contact points. Brands should not try to be best in all of their contact points but instead focus on a few and try hard to convert those into Wow points. This is the only way to effectively differentiate a brand in today’s super-competitive marketplace. Sure there are opportunity costs involved in focusing on a few contact points rather than going all out trying to cover all the contact points. But if you think about it, the real danger lies in not focussing at all - and that is the danger of becoming a mediocre brand and losing your brand forever in the clutter of other mediocre brands.

All of us have expectations. We have expectations from people (parents, kids, spouse, friends, relatives, and especially employers & employees), products (car, plasma television, MP3 player, cellular phones, etc.), and services (Internet, financial, healthcare and even public services like police, fire department, etc.). We expect when we buy, we expect when we sell, we expect when we consume, hell we even expect when we marry. So expectations are a way of life, ’to expect’ is built into our nature now. And there’s nothing exactly wrong in that, it helps us to survive and move up the value chain by helping us to estimate and predict the future. This allows us to make the decisions that we consider ‘best’ for ourselves.

But what if the value we finally derive exceeds our expectations? How would you feel?

Wow! Exactly, you see where this is going and you are right – this is Wowability. Thus, in short, Wowability occurs when total value derived exceeds expectations.

Wowability can be implemented in various ways. Companies, departments, or even individuals can benefit from the concept of Wowability. However, it is acutely valuable in the context of brands. In order to truly appreciate the value of Wowability, it will be useful to understand how brands are perceived and used by consumers. This can be done through the concept of brand banking.

There are twelve principles of brand banking, namely:

1. A brand ladder exists in the minds of consumer for every category, and brands are ranked on this ladder in order of preference.
2. A brand bank exists in the minds of consumers for every brand they are familiar with.
3. Master brand banks exist for mother brands and they affect brands banks under them through the halo effect.
4. A regular bank account exists for every contact point that a brand has.
5. A brand bank account can be credited or debited not only by the brand’s owners but also by other brands.
6. Inactivity of account leads to a depreciation in overall balance of the brand bank.
7. A brand has to continuously try to increase its bank balance.
8. A higher balance means moving up the preference ladder in the consumer’s mind.
9. The Consumers’ Preference Ladder is dynamic and updated on every retrieval.
10. Brands can avoid this never ending rat race through achieving Wowability.
11. A regular brand bank account is turned into a premium brand bank account when contact points are turned into Wow points.
12. Brands with Premium accounts are always on top rung on the consumers’ preference ladder, followed by brand with the highest regular bank account balance.

Detailed Table of Contents of the book ’Wowability – How To Achieve It & Why It Matters’

1.  Foreword by Prof. Schmitt (Executive Director of Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia University) 

2.  Preface, Acknowledgement, and Author’s pledge to donate to Grameen Foundation (a microfinance lending organization co-founded by Nobel peace prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus)

3. Chapter 1: Introduction to Wowability

Here Wowability – the ability to consistently delight by exceeding expectations – is introduced

- What is Wowability?

- Why does exceeding expectations work?

- The “Wow” Effect

- Steven Spielberg’s Wow Story

4. Chapter 2: Brand Banking     

Here Brand banking – a concept explaining how brands are perceived and used by consumers – is introduced

- The 12 Principles of Brand Banking

- (1)      A brand preference ladder exists in the minds of consumers for every relevant category, and brands are ranked on this ladder.

- (2)      A brand bank exists in the minds of consumers for every brand they are familiar with.

- (3)      Master brand banks exist for “mother” brands and they affect the brand banks that fall under them through the halo effect.

- (4)      A regular bank account exists for every contact point that a brand has.

- (5)      A brand bank account can be credited or debited not only by the brand’s owners but also by other brands.

- (6)      Inactivity leads to a depreciation in the overall balance of the brand bank.

- (7)      A brand has to continuously try to increase its bank balance.

- (8)     A higher brand bank account balance will result in a move up the preference ladder.

- (9)    The brand preference ladder is dynamic and updated on every retrieval.

- (10)    Brands can avoid this constant struggle by achieving Wowability.

- (11)    A regular brand bank account is turned into a premium brand bank account when contact points are turned into Wow points.

- (12)    Brands with premium accounts are always on the top rung of the brand preference ladder, followed by the brand with the highest regular bank account balance.

- Conclusion

- Samsung’s Wow Story

5. Chapter 3: The Economics of Wowability

Here the basics behind Wowability are discussed

- So what are expectations?

- Functional Value

- Emotional Value

 - Wowability by focusing on functional value

 - Wowability by focusing on emotional value

- Wowability zone

- Sustaining Wowability

- The Big Picture–Wowability is an attitude, not just a theory

- Apple’s Wow Story

6. Chapter 4: Contact Points     

Here Contact points – all experiences through which directly, or indirectly, consumers come in contact with the brand or obtain information about the brand – are introduced

- Positioning

- Picking your battles

- Classification of contact points

- Starbucks’ Wow Story

7. Chapter 5: Functional Contact Points     

Here Functional Contact points – all contact points that are directly related to the functional aspects of the product/service and hold mostly functional value – are introduced

- Features

- Quality

- Convenience

- Location

            – Product Location and Communications Placement

- Country of Origin Effect

- Toyota’s Wow Story

- Google’s Wow Story

8. Chapter 6: Emotional Contact Points     

Here Emotional Contact points – all contact points that can elicit emotional responses from the target audience and hold mostly emotional value – are introduced

- Price

- Customer Service

            – Pre-Purchase Service

            – Point-of-Purchase Service

            – Post-Purchase Service

- User Experience

- Branding

            – Brand Name

            – Brand Story

- Brand Leaders

- Design

- Nokia’s Wow Story

            – Never be satisfied–Push the limits

            – The Thinking Behind The Design

            – Drawing Inspiration

- AXE’s Wow Story

9. Chapter 7: Communicational Contact Points

Here Communicational contact points – all contact points that directly or indirectly communicate information about the brand – are introduced

- Advertising

            – Turning an Advertisement into a Wow point

- Celebrity Endorsements

- Communicational Contact Points and the Internet

            – Online Reviews

            – Blogging

- Word-of-Mouth

            – How to Make Word-of-Mouth work

- Product Placement in Movies

- In a Blink–One-second Advertisements

- Advertisements on Public Transport

- Coca-Cola’s Wow Story

            – Brand Logo and Brand Name

            – Advertising

            – Alternative Communications

- Ben & Jerry’s Wow Story

10. Chapter 8: Quantitative Tools 

Here three quantitative tools which brands can utilize to achieve Wowability are introduced

- Tool 1: The Wow Score

            – Efficacy of the survey

- Getting the appropriate competitors for inclusion

                        - Getting the right contact points in the survey

                        – Getting the right people to participate

                        – The structure of the survey

                        – The Results

- Wow Score

          – Contact Points Score Analysis Guide

- (1) High Importance for Consumers, High Score in Familiarity, and High Score in Exceeding Expectations

- (2) High Importance for Consumers, High Score in Familiarity, Low to Moderate Score in Exceeding Expectations

- (3) High Importance for Consumers, Low Score in Familiarity, and Low to Moderate Score in Exceeding Expectations

- (4) Low Importance for Consumers, High Score in Familiarity, and High Score in Exceeding Expectations

- (5) Low Importance for Consumers, Low Score in Familiarity, and Low Score in Exceeding Expectations

- Tool 2: The Wowability Test

             – Example of using the Wowability Test

             – Limitations of the Wowability Test

             - How to make use of the test results

- Tool 3: The FAR Paradigm

- Familiarity–A spectrum of awareness levels pertaining to a brand

                – Attractiveness–A corollary of Wowability

                          - Reputation–Trustworthiness of a brand

               - Relevance–the necessary catalyst

- The FAR Paradigm as a tool

- Using the FAR Paradigm

- FAR Paradigm Familiarity Matrix

             – Tough Square

             – Maybe Square

             – Unclaimed Potential Square

             - High Repeat Purchases Square

- FAR Paradigm Reputation Matrix

            – Tough Square

            – Problem Square

            – Maybe Repeat Purchases Square

            – Loyal Users Square

- Putting it all together

11. Chapter 9: Qualitative Tools 

Here three qualitative tools which brands can utilize to achieve Wowability are introduced

- Laddering

- Brainstorming

- IBM’s Wow Story

- Common Misconceptions about Brainstorming

 - Myth #1: Brainstorming will provide a quick solution

- Myth #2: Brainstorming needs a “creative ideas person”

- Myth #3: There is no need to define the problem at hand

- Myth #4: There is no need to prepare for brainstorming sessions

- Myth #5: Brainstorming gives the perfect solution every time

 - Mind Mapping

 - 3M’s Wow Story

 - Motorola’s Wow Story

12. Chapter 10: Sustaining Wowability 

Here the question on “How to sustain Wowability?” is answered.

- Ever-Increasing Consumer Expectations

- Managing Expectations by Managing Release Dates

- Barriers to Wowability

            – Functional Contact Points

            – Emotional Contact Points

            – Barriers to Entry

- Disruptive Wowability

            – Disruptive Wowability – Embrace it!

- General Electric’s Wow Story

- Coca-Cola’s Wow Story

- Singapore Airlines’ Wow Story

- Singapore’s Wow Story

13. Chapter 11: Principles of Wowability and the Way Ahead 

Here the principles of Wowability are discussed along with implications of Wowability for the future         

- Principle 1: Wowability leads to first preference

- Principle 2: Brand banks govern the hierarchy of brands and contact points in consumers’ minds

- Principle 3: Contact points are key to a brand’s future

- Principle 4: A consumer’s perception of a brand’s value is derived from the sum of all the individual contact points that he or she is familiar with.

- Principle 5: All contact points can be categorized as functional, emotional or communicational.

- Principle 6: Wowability is achieved by turning contact points into Wow points

- Principle 7: Choosing key contact points and developing a strategy to convert them into Wow points are essential steps towards achieving Wowability.

- Principle 8: Once Wowability has been achieved, it needs to be sustained by managing consumer expectations.

- Principle 9: Create barriers to discourage competition.

- Principle 10: Brands must always be on the lookout for opportunities to create disruptive Wow points.

- The way ahead

- Expectations are everywhere

14. Appendix I: Wowability Surveys 

- Objective

- Wow Score Survey

            – Details

            - Methodology

            – Findings

- Wowability Factors Survey

           – Details

          – Methodology

          – List of Brands

          – Findings

15. Appendix II: The Wowability Framework 

            – The ‘Existing Contact Point’ Approach

            – The ‘New Contact Points’ Approach

Wowability is the ability to consistently delight by exceeding expectations

Merely satisfying the consumer is no longer enough, especially with increasing competition and globalization, consumers now have easy accessibility to alternatives. The key to creating a successful brand that holds great value, garners large market share and earns extraordinary profit lies in Wowability.  It is thus a paradigm shift in thinking and key to the future survival of brands and companies. Wowability empowers brands to rise above mediocrity and be propelled into becoming super brands.