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Elon Musk's SpaceX company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space transportation with the ultimate goal of "making humanity multi-planetary". SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches the most advanced rockets and spacecraft in the world.

The Wall Street Journal tells us that winning a Pentagon satellite launch contract is a coup as it pursues its goal of making SpaceX a "… trusted, long-term military launch provider." SpaceX has achieved this success by consistently fulfilling its SpaceX brand promise of disciplined and continuous pursuit of quality.

The consistent satisfaction of customer expectations is the customer-oriented definition of quality. Consistently meet expectations. Promise what you will deliver. Keep what you promise. Knowing that the french fries you eat at McDonald & # 39; s are the same every time is a sign of quality.

Quality is in the eye of the customer. A quality guru defined quality as conformity with customer expectations. Another quality guru defined quality as the extent to which a product successfully and consistently serves the purpose of the user. Quality is about meeting expectations. The Pentagon is confident that Space X will take off as promised, deliver its payload, and return. Lexus' "relentless pursuit of perfection" is for us a message about the quality of the brand.

The flaw in the quality matrix

We all know the consultant's preferred 2 x 2 matrix. The goal always seems to be the top right corner. This is what New York Magazine uses for its "Approval Rating" back cover. You place cultural objects in a 2 x 2 matrix with axes labeled Despicable-Brilliant and Highbrow-Lowbrow. The best box is high on Brilliant and high on Highbrow too. This is New York Magazine's take on what "tastes good".

The defining example of stupidity is the famous 2 x 2 matrix. When it comes to quality, the traditional top right corner approach of the 2 x 2 matrix doesn't work. And yet it's there in the presentations. Basically, quality is consistent compliance with customer expectations. SpaceX wins here. Amazon also wins here. Lexus wins here too, as does Carvana, Peloton, M & Ms and Cheetos.

Variability is not good. A variable brand is risky. The customer expects a brand to consistently deliver on its promise of a relevant, differentiated, and trustworthy experience every time, any time, anytime, anywhere.

When assessing quality, the two key factors are the expected average performance perceived by the customer and the expected fluctuation in performance. Customer satisfaction increases with decreasing variation. In other words, high average performance expectancy combined with little variation is good.

When it comes to quality, the brands with the highest quality are in the lower right quadrant, with high expected average experience and low expected variation. A brand is not high quality if it has high variability, even if it has high average performance. Why should I keep buying something when every use provides an unpredictable experience … even if it lives up to expectations on average?

Quality is a continuum

This is the law of the diagonal. It's not a Euclidean geometry, but a common sense. If you arrange competitive brands in a consideration laid down on a quality chart with customer expected variability on the horizontal axis and average performance expectation on the vertical axis, the brands spread out on a diagonal from top left (high variability – low average performance) to bottom right (low variability – high average performance): a selection of brands arranged diagonally. Quality is a continuum; It's not a 2 x 2 classification.

In his comment to the Financial Times, Mr. Hill quoted the CEO of the design firm IDEO as saying that the 2 x 2 matrix is ​​the favorite area of ​​strategy consultants because the top right field is "nirvana" and is always out of your reach. Remember that advisors receive a very profitable pension because “nirvana” is out of reach. When it comes to quality, the upper right quadrant of the 2 x 2 matrix is ​​not only misleading. It does not exist. Quality exists on a diagonal.

Here's a branded business marketing tip: Eliminate the idea of ​​discrete quadrants. Life is a continuum, not independent boxes. Quality lives from a continuous diagonal, not from four arbitrarily defined, discrete fields.

Peter Drucker, the management guru, wrote: “Quality is not what the supplier brings in. it's what the customer gets. “When customers find that your brand is inconsistent, all your good intentions won't help. Consistency is critical. Promise what you can deliver. Keep what you promise. Meet expectations … every customer, every time, everywhere.

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature

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