Uber vs. Reality
How company brand can affect the way we perceive a product
Everyone has probably heard the saying “the customer is always right” and there is no mistake that the amount of influence customers have on a brand can make or break a company. Customer success is even a metric used to determine company progress and brand perception.
People are a big factor into which products stay in the market or not .
So what is brand perception?
Brand perception, as described by Seth Godin, is a set of “expectations, memories, stories and relationships” that when used in conjunction with one another, influence our decision to use a product, company or service.
Uber is the app that easily gets people to point A to B with just a few taps.
Uber prides itself on giving the customer utmost convenience wherever and whenever improving our access to transportation and providing drivers way to earn money and strengthen the economy.
Uber has food delivery?!
Uber gave me a refund very quickly when my driver didn’t pick me up.
…and so on.
The mental constructs we create around a brand helps us understand the company, their values and how they present themselves to us. By understanding the brand, it helps us choose which company to follow instead its competitors
Due to the competitive nature of markets, companies want us to choose them over others and will do what they can to create an image that supports the product they are trying to sell us.
The Undiscovered Problem
In light of recent events and ex Uber employee Susan Fowler’s story of sexual harassment, the balance of how people use and perceive Uber’s brand has revealed the big elephant in the room.
There are thousands of people deleting Uber in protest of the company because their perception of the brand has been destroyed. If Susan and numerous other people didn’t tell their stories through social media, people would probably still be using Uber just like every other day without any knowledge of what goes on in the company.
Uber has revealed a harsher side of reality, but it gives us all the awareness to do something about it.
Let’s look at the issue from two sides:
The Product Perspective
Uber helps me with my day to day tasks.
Like I stated before, if the Uber scandals didn’t happen and they kept their reputation as sterile as possible, our brand perception wouldn’t have changed and we would be still using and complimenting the product like we did before. Nothing would have changed.
But…
there will always be people using Uber (or at least until there is no need for cars) because of its sheer convenience; it has become integrated into people’s lives, including mine due to how easy it is to get a ride through their simple design and functionality quickly and cheaply. Uber has made taken advantage of how people want to go to places easier by making their app almost second nature to use because it fulfills the user’s goals almost every time they use it (efficient in booking rides, transparent interface that gives you accurate information such as the time your driver will arrive/drop you off, affordable prices, low learning curve to utilizing features of the app and so on).
The brand promise and brand experience are more powerful than brand perception.
…Or at least if you look at Uber from a product perspective.
The People Perspective
There are bigger issues at stake than the product.
Despite how good Uber may be as a product, people don’t want to use it.
When we someone being unfairly treated, as humans, we need to stand up for one another. Who cares how well the product works? Since the scandal happened, the elephant in the room has been revealed and there is no turning back, bridges have been burnt with what the brand says and promises.
How can we trust a product that can’t even treat their employees right?
Takeaway:
Brand perceptive overpowers brand promise and brand experience.
I believe how we treat humans come first.
Regardless of how Uber understands its customers and creates an amazing product, the fact that their brand has been tarnished due to bigger issues that affect humans as a whole, we must stand together and stand up for our basic rights.
Conclusion
People will buy/use what they believe the value of what they are given, but the fact Uber is treating people unfairly to create value brings the question of how we treat people to create products for money and growth. Is this ethical?
There are probably other companies who abuse their employees for the sake of growth, but we just don’t see it because the brand perception is still very much intact with what the brand promises and how it delivers.
We care more about how a product satisfies our needs than the people who create it.
Overall, there are lots of times where we become shortsighted because the product satisfies our needs, but once companies start reeling their head in ugly issues and we find out about them, we simply need to take brand perception with a grain of salt; it’s an illusion for the bigger problems that may exist.
As customers, we decide on what makes a good product and if a brand presents us with an image that goes against our morals, we need to think beyond the product. In Uber’s case, we need to think about the consequences of how people treat others for the sake of progress.
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