CX Science: how to show customers you care about them using your logo
What:
Circular logos convey softness, comfortability, and sensitivity to customers. Angular logos evoke perceptions of hardness and durability.
Consumers evaluate products higher and will pay more for them when the headline and the logo shape convey matching messages.
Now what:
Consider carefully what experience do you want to create for customers. Then opt for a circular logo, if you are looking for softness and comfortableness, and for an angular logo if you are looking to evoke durability.
For maximum impact, your logo and your headline should match in the messages they convey.
A brand's logo is one of its most prominent design elements. Done right, it can contribute significantly to creating the image a brand is looking for, and to the experience of its customers.
Think about Nike or Apple for example. Their logos are super recognizable, and surely part of it stems from these brands' popularity. What I find more interesting though is that they are carefully crafted to be in line with how these brands want us, consumers, to feel when interacting with them.
In other words, logos work best when they match the customer experience a brand promotes. This is exactly what this study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found out. Read on.
First things first, the authors of the study wanted to know if different types of logos create different meaning, apart from the brand they represent. Could it be that simply the way they are designed conveys meaning?
As it turns out, merely the way logos are designed communicates certain messages to consumers. In one of the studies the authors tested two different logo designs - one circular and one angular, and asked participants to what extend each conveys comfortableness and durability. The results are conclusive:
circular logos increase perceptions of comfortability
angular logos increase perceptions of durability
In another of the studies the circular logo was much better in making customers a fictious airline is more willing to listen to a customer's explanation, to show empathy toward a customer, and to attempt to accommodate a customer's request.
Next, the authors showed an effect that many other studies have shown before in different contexts - that design elements that match well with each other impact customer's opinion the most.
Testing this effect in advertisements, the authors found out that the product advertised was more liked and consumers were willing to pay more for it when:
A comfortableness headline was matched with a circular logo. This leads to consumers willing to pay about 20% more than when comfortableness is matched with an angular logo.
A durability headline was matched with an angular one. Similarly, this leads to consumers willing to pay about 20% more than when durability is matched with a circular logo.
Now we know:
Logo design is not a matter of one logo looking better than the other. It's all about the impressions you want to create. If you want your customers to think your company is sensitive towards them, opt for a circular logo. The downside is that you can probably not convey an image of masculinity, durability, and hardness with such a logo - an angular one is much better positioned to do that.
Make sure that the messages your headline and your logo convey match with each other. This is the way to achieve the highest impact.
My best wishes for a great day ahead!
CX Inspirations - card 39
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