TL;DR
- The brand moment most businesses are sleeping on
- It took them 10 min. It created a customer for life.
- What a Broadway musical can teach you about customer loyalty
- The power of the Peak-End Rule
Have you ever had a brand do something small - almost effortless on their end - that completely changed how you felt about them?
Like:
A handwritten note tucked in a package.
A surprise upgrade you didn't ask for.
A quick DM re: something you posted
And suddenly you went from "I like this company" to "I will tell everyone I know about this company"?
That's what I watched unfold last week. Except I was on the receiving end, and I couldn't stop thinking about the brand lesson underneath it.
Here's what happened:
My daughter posted a video singing Defying Gravity from Wicked. It got some traction online and caught the attention of past Glinda's and Elphaba's on Broadway.
Then, the company manager from Wicked the Musical reached out.
They invited us to join them backstage following a show. We went to NYC. She met Glinda & Elphaba and got an incredible behind-the-scenes experience at the Gershwin Theater.
And I sat there thinking: This probably took their team 10 minutes to coordinate.
A quick internal message. Maybe a calendar hold. Done.
But that tiny touchpoint? It created a lifelong fan and brand advocate. Everyone she tells this story to now has a positive impression of how that brand treats people. I'm writing about it in a marketing newsletter right now...
All from 10 min of someone paying attention.
Here's the thing:
I've sat with businesses who spend hours optimizing their onboarding process, their email sequences, their upsell strategies.
And those things matter... Kind of.
But the research shows something a little different:
Customers don't remember the whole journey. They remember the peaks and endings.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman called this the Peak-End Rule: People judge an experience based on how they felt at its most intense moment and at the very end - not the sum of every moment in between.
Think about it... when you describe a restaurant to a friend, you don't recap every bite. You mention the dish that surprised you and whether the check felt rushed or gracious.
Same goes for your customers.
The opportunity:
Instead of focusing on optimizing every touchpoint, consider engineering memorable peaks.
One unexpected moment of recognition - a note, a shoutout, an invitation that says "we see you" - creates more loyalty than months of competent, forgettable service.
These aren't expensive gestures. They're thoughtful ones. And most cost almost nothing.
The Peak Moment Framework:
→ Spot the emotional high points:
Where are customers naturally excited? First purchase? Milestone achieved? Public win? These are your amplification opportunities.
→ Make it personal, not polished:
A quick, genuine response beats a templated one every time. Customers can feel the difference between "we noticed you" and "our system triggered this."
→ Act fast:
Wicked's team reached out while the moment was still warm. Recognition 3 weeks later loses most of its magic.
→ Don't forget the ending:
Your last touchpoint shapes how people remember everything. Make closings intentional - not afterthoughts.
In the news:
📰 McKinsey research found that customer delight - which happens at the intersection of joy and surprise - drives not just loyalty and repurchase, but revenue growth through cross-selling and upselling.
📰 LoyaltyOne studies show that 94% of customers who receive a surprise gift or special recognition felt more positive about the company - and 34% said it led them to give the company more business
📰 Temkin Group research shows that customers who rate their experience highly are 5x more likely to repurchase and 7x more likely to forgive a company's mistake
Not bad for 10 minutes and zero ad spend...
Let's wrap this up...
What struck me most wasn't the experience itself - it was how little effort it took on the brand's side to create something that will stick with our family forever.
No six-figure campaign.
No marketing committee.
No seventeen rounds of approval.
Just someone paying attention to a moment - and choosing to act on it.
That's the ROI of a peak moment. And it's available to any business willing to watch for it.
That's all for today,
Dani
Have you experienced a brand moment like this - one that stuck with you? I'd love to hear about it.