In an age where old-fashioned customer service is getting lost in the noise of automation, digitalization, and depersonalisation, giving your customers an experience to remember when they visit your business can, and will, make you stand out from the competition. That’s what Consumer Behaviouralist and King of Customer Experience, Ken Hughes, explained when he took to the 2025 Salon Owners Summit stage to present the first keynote, How to Use CX To Build Brand Success.
Acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on modern consumer culture, Hughes understands what it takes to provide outstanding customer experiences that keep client retention and your business’ bottom line high. “The secret to a successful brand lies in connection,” he explained, before outlining the nine pillars of great customer experience:
- Authenticity
- Intimacy
- Belonging
- Vulnerability
- Collaboration
- Purpose
- Delight
- Appreciation
- Together
One global brand that nails these nine pillars flawlessly? American singer-songwriter, best-selling music artist, and, according to Hughes, brand genius: Taylor Swift.
Building a Tribal Brand Following
So, what does Taylor Swift have that makes her one of the most iconic and popular brands in the world? According to Hughes, it’s because she’s intentionally built a Tribal Brand Following. Despite being one of the biggest figures in the music industry, Swift’s brand is all about including her fans and making them feel part of the journey, which, in turn, makes them feel connected to her and more likely to stick by her long-term. She writes personalised letters to fans. Gifts them specific and thoughtful presents during the holidays. In the past, she has even invited them into her home for album listening parties, quite literally bringing them in to include them in the artistic process; a process that is kept private to fans of most other music icons.
The result?
- Her Eras Tour is the largest-grossing tour ever, globally
- She was named Billboard’s most successful musician of the 21st century
- She has won a multitude of awards, from VMAs to Grammys and everything in between
- She is the only person to appear on the Forbes Billionaire list from music alone
How Can Salons, Spas & Clinics Build a Tribal Brand Following?
Continuing to talk about Swift’s strategies for building her following, Ken noted; “She has woven a thread of connection by focusing on customer experience,” which has led to her meteoric success. “Connection is what we have as humans.”.
Focusing on this connection in your salon, spa, or clinic business will give you an advantage over your competitors, and keep your clients coming back, over and over again. To do this, businesses must focus on:
- Authenticity: Let clients see behind the curtain through social media or other marketing channels, showing them “I’m just like you.”
- Intimacy: Foster closeness through personal interactions. Don’t be afraid to speak honestly and intimately, and let your clients do the same.
- Belonging: Create rituals or shared experiences, such as memorable in-house moments, community nights, or open evenings in your business.
- Vulnerability: Be real and relatable to clients. Don’t create an “us vs them” mentality.
Delighting Clients: When Meeting Expectations Isn’t Enough
Elaborating on the secrets to building a tribal brand following, Ken Hughes reverted back to Swift when explaining how, in today’s age, simply meeting customer expectations isn’t enough. If you want your clients to stay loyal, generate referrals, and follow your business as fiercely as “The Swifties” follow Taylor, you must exceed expectations. This turns the simple business-customer relationship from a transaction into a connection. And that’s where the magic happens.
Taking multiple examples from different industries to illustrate this point, Hughes explains how exceeding expectations can be as simple as including something unexpected for clients, like a café in the USA that rolled a red carpet out for everyone who visited on a certain day. Or it can be deeply moving and intentional, which Hughes explained in an anecdote about a United Airlines pilot delaying a plane so that a customer was assured a seat home to visit his terminally ill mother. In both cases, the customers being serviced are likely to continue visiting the cafe, or travelling using that airline, for years and years to come.
To further illustrate the importance of exceeding expectations, Hughes shared a simple chart explaining different levels of customer service:
- Dissatisfied (experience is worse than expectation, level -1)
- Satisfied (experience matches expectations, level 1)
- Delight (experience is more than expected, level 2)
- Engage (experience is so much better than expected, level 3)
“If you’re not making customers feel, you’re just another brand, commodity, or transaction in their life,” he notes. “Question how are you making your customers feel special every day.” This will keep them engaged, and keep them coming back.
The Staff Experience = The Client Experience
Achieving an incredible client experience is impossible without the buy-in of staff, explained Hughes. Continuing the Taylor Swift analogy, Hughes explained that she is very intentional about involving her team in everything she does, from giving dancers impromptu solos on stage to gifting large sums of money to her trucking staff and behind-the-scenes crew at the end of each tour leg.
Taking inspiration from Swift, Ken explains that by going the extra mile for your team, they’ll go the extra mile for you. Relating this to the professional hair and beauty industry, Hughes asks the room to consider:
- How can you ensure your team is involved in decision-making for the business?
- How can your team shape the company’s brand?
- How can your team define the customer experience?
Focusing on appreciating, collaborating with, and empowering your team creates an environment where everyone feels valued, and wants to go above and beyond for customers in return.
Creating a Client Community & Sense of Belonging
Another key element to building a tribal brand following is by creating a sense of community and belonging for clients. Harking back to how Taylor Swift does this, Hughes explains that her fans engage in ritualistic behaviour that makes them feel as though they’re part of something bigger than just Taylor’s music. They’re part of the “Swiftie” community.
In Taylor Swift’s case, these rituals take place at her concerts and include:
- Fans swapping friendship bracelets with one another
- Fans who couldn’t buy tickets to concerts gathering outside venues to sing and dance together
- Fans dressing up as specific album “eras” when attending shows.
In one touching video, thousands of fans are seen dancing in the pouring rain outside a Taylor Swift concert venue. After playing, Ken asked the audience; “Would your clients show up in the rain for you?”
“Showing up for you in the rain” is achieved by going a business going beyond the product or service that it provides. It’s about building a community out of a business that would still exist even if the business owner was taken out of the middle of it. Hughes quoted; “If you take the product away from us, we will make our own.” That is the essence of a tribal brand following and borderline cult client loyalty that successful businesses should be aiming for. Creating a community and sense of belonging that your clients want to remain a part of, and shout about in the form of referrals, and public reviews, is key to achieving this.
Driving Lifetime Value with Emotional Value
Driving lifetime value and client retention is another vital part of creating the Tribal Brand Following that Hughes described, which can be achieved by connecting emotionally with clients. Again, reverting to Taylor Swift as an example, Hughes played a short clip of Swift “lurking” on her fans’ social media, commenting and liking posts about her to make her audience feel connected to her in the same way they would with one of their friends. Similarly, at each of her shows, Swift makes intentional eye contact with fans and cameras, giving her audience those moments of intense, one-on-one connection that make them feel instantly connected and special.
Bringing this back to the salon, clinic, and spa industry, Hughes asks the audience to consider how they can personalise visitors’ experiences and make emotional connections that encourage their visitors back. “What have I done today to build my brand army?” Hughes encourages the audience to ask themselves at the end of every day.
Elaborating on the importance of emotional value, Hughes then mentioned the Phorest Client Experience Award. This award is given to Phorest salons, clinics, and spas that consistently achieve a certain amount of 4+ star reviews over a given period. Rather than just standing as a review of the quality of services in a business, the Phorest Client Experience Award is a relationship award, acknowledging the extra mile that these businesses go in creating an out-of-the-ordinary experience for their visitors every day; so much so that clients feel compelled to leave a public review. Customer experience that goes beyond the expected drives lifetime retention and value.
Going Beyond the Transaction
Ending his keynote, Ken Hughes played a short clip of two teenage girls witnessing the opening of Taylor Swift’s iconic Eras Tour for the first time. As the lights dim, the crowd erupts, and the first music notes are heard, both girls are almost paralyzed with emotion. One stares dumbstruck at the stage, eyes wide, mouth open, while the other shakes uncontrollably, screeching out the opening lyrics.
“THIS is the power of brand relationships and emotional connection,” said Hughes. How can your business build something that elicits this kind of reaction?
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