Do brands really understand their customers?

Do brands really understand their customers? The behavioural science behind better brand experiences

Brands have never had more data.

Customer journeys are mapped. Dashboards update in real time. Sentiment is tracked, measured and reported. AI is unlocking new levels of personalisation and insight.

And yet, many organisations still struggle to answer a surprisingly simple question: Why do customers behave the way they do?

The challenge isn't a lack of information. It's a lack of understanding.

In the latest episode of In Conversation, NewTerritory Managing Director Ben Harding sits down with behavioural scientist, data psychology expert and Sunday Times bestselling author Patrick Fagan to explore the growing gap between what brands know about their customers and what they actually understand.

The illusion of customer understanding

For decades, businesses have relied on surveys, satisfaction scores and customer feedback programmes to understand their audiences.

These tools have value. But they also have limitations.

Customers don't always behave the way they say they will. They don't always remember experiences accurately. And they often struggle to articulate the factors that influence their decisions in the first place.

As Patrick explains, much of human behaviour happens beneath conscious awareness.

This creates a challenge for brands. While organisations have become increasingly sophisticated at collecting data, many are still measuring outcomes rather than understanding the psychological drivers behind them.

The result is a dangerous illusion: more information can feel like more understanding, even when it isn't.

Why brand experience matters more than ever

Brand experience has become one of the most important competitive battlegrounds for modern organisations.

Products can be copied. Features can be replicated. Technology advantages rarely last forever.

Experiences are different.

The moments customers remember, the emotions they associate with a brand and the behaviours those experiences create are often what drive long-term loyalty and commercial value.

But creating meaningful experiences requires more than designing touchpoints.

It requires understanding how people think, feel and behave in context.

Throughout the conversation, Patrick explores the behavioural science principles behind memorable experiences, while Ben shares NewTerritory's perspective on designing signature moments that influence perception, behaviour and ultimately business outcomes.

The problem with measuring the wrong things

Perhaps nowhere is the gap between data and understanding more visible than in customer measurement.

Many organisations continue to rely heavily on Net Promoter Score (NPS) despite long-standing questions around its ability to explain customer behaviour.

The issue isn't that NPS is inherently flawed.

It's that a score can only tell you so much.

Knowing how someone rated an experience is very different from understanding what created that response, which moments mattered most, or how those moments influence future behaviour.

As customer expectations become more sophisticated, organisations are increasingly exploring approaches that connect experience interventions to emotional outcomes, customer lifetime value and commercial performance.

In other words, moving from measuring satisfaction to understanding impact.

Context changes everything

One of the most compelling ideas explored in the discussion is the difference between traits and states.

Traditional customer segmentation often focuses on relatively stable characteristics such as demographics, preferences or personality traits.

But behaviour is heavily influenced by context.

The same person can respond differently depending on where they are, how they feel, what they're doing and what they need in that moment.

This has significant implications for brand experience.

The most effective experiences are not simply designed for customer segments. They are designed for customer states.

Understanding context allows brands to become more relevant, more meaningful and ultimately more effective.

The future belongs to brands that understand people

As AI reshapes how organisations interact with customers, understanding human behaviour becomes more important, not less.

Technology can help brands collect more information than ever before.

But competitive advantage will come from knowing what that information means.

The organisations that succeed in the future won't necessarily be the ones with the most data.

They'll be the ones with the deepest understanding of people.

Because great brand experiences aren't created by measuring customers.

They're created by understanding them.

Watch the conversation

Watch the full discussion to discover why understanding behaviour may be the most important capability modern brands need to develop.

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