First, the brand consistency statistic you should stop quoting
If you've read anything about brand consistency, you've met the claim that consistent presentation increases revenue by up to 33%. It appears in pitch decks, agency proposals and roughly every article on this subject. It does not mean what people think it means.
The figure comes from a 2019 survey of just over 200 brand managers, run by Lucidpress, a company selling brand template software. Respondents were not measured; they were asked what revenue growth they would expect if their brand were consistently maintained. The 33% is people guessing about their own hypothetical performance. The earlier 2016 version of the same research produced 23%. No methodology was ever published, the original report page no longer resolves, and Marq, the company Lucidpress became, now states respondents expect a 10 to 20% increase rather than 33%. The vendor that created the number has quietly revised it down.
We're leading with this because the case for brand experience doesn't need it. There is real evidence, and the real evidence is more useful.
What brand experience is actually worth
PwC's consumer research found customers will pay a premium for a good experience: up to 16% globally, though the Australian figure is a more modest 10%. Most articles quote the global number without mentioning that the Australian one is lower, which is worth knowing if you're setting prices here. The study dates from 2018, so treat it as an established direction rather than a current measurement.
On trust, Edelman's 2025 research across 15 countries including Australia found 80% of people trust the brands they personally use, and that trust now sits alongside quality and price as a purchase consideration. Brand trust built through direct, consistent experience outweighs trust claimed in a campaign.
The most relevant number for an Australian business, though, is this: in a 2025 survey of 164 Australian business leaders, only 55% said their brand was consistent across all touchpoints [5]. Just 16% intended to invest in brand over the following three years, and 11% didn't invest in branding at all. The survey came from an Australian brand consultancy, so it argues for its own service; the brand consistency gap it describes is nonetheless the opportunity, because most of your competitors have it too.
Why inconsistent brand experience compounds
Brand experience isn't one thing. It's the sum of the website, the first email, how a call is answered, what the invoice looks like, the tone of a follow-up, and whether all of it feels like it comes from the same place. Each inconsistency is small alone: a website that feels premium beside a customer service reply that reads as rushed; careful packaging paired with a confusing checkout. No single gap sinks a sale.
Together they create doubt, and doubt is expensive. It shows up as price resistance, where the customer asks for one more discount because something didn't quite convince them of the value. It shows up as longer sales cycles, with more questions and more hesitation than the product warrants. And it shows up as customers needing more reassurance at every step, because nothing in the experience has done that work for them.
Get it right and the reverse happens: customers spend less time evaluating you, because the brand has already done some of the convincing before a conversation starts. That's the real multiplier. Not that consistency feels nicer, but that it removes friction sitting between a prospect and a purchase. It's the same principle as clarity beating loudness in your positioning, extended past the words to every touchpoint.
Where inconsistency usually hides
Rarely in the big, visible things; most businesses get the logo and the website reasonably right. It hides in the smaller touchpoints: how quickly and in what tone an email enquiry is answered; whether the invoice matches the polish of the sales pitch; whether a returning customer is treated with the same warmth as a new prospect being actively courted. Auditing those overlooked moments is usually where the cheapest wins are found, and it connects directly to why good businesses struggle to communicate their value: the parts nobody owns are the parts nobody checks.
A simple brand experience audit to run this month
Walk your own customer journey as a stranger: read the ad or first social post, visit the website, submit an enquiry, read the follow-up email, look at an invoice. At each step, ask whether it feels like it came from the same business as the step before, in tone, in polish, and in its sense of who this company is. Most businesses find one or two points where the experience noticeably drops, usually on the operational or admin side rather than the marketing-facing side.
Those gaps are usually inexpensive to close relative to what they unlock. A consistent email signature, a follow-up written in the same voice as the website, an invoice template that isn't an afterthought; none of these require a rebrand. They require treating every touchpoint as part of the brand, not only the ones the marketing team owns.
Our Brand Experience and Communications work helps make sure every touchpoint pulls in the same direction, not just the logo.
Frequently asked questions
What is brand experience, and how is it different from branding?
Branding is what you design: the name, logo, colours, voice and positioning. Brand experience is what the customer actually encounters, including everything you didn't design on purpose. The invoice, the hold music, the tone of an after-hours email reply and the checkout flow are all brand experience whether anyone treated them that way or not. Most businesses invest in the first and inherit the second.
Does brand consistency really increase revenue?
Probably, but not by the number you've read. The widely quoted "33% revenue increase" is a survey of about 200 brand managers estimating their own hypothetical growth, run by a company selling brand template software, and its successor now says 10 to 20% instead. The defensible version is narrower and still useful: customers pay a premium for good experience, 10% in Australia and up to 16% globally, and consistency is how that experience becomes predictable enough to trust.
How much does branding cost for a small business in Australia?
Published Australian ranges run from roughly $300 to $1,500 for a freelance logo, $2,000 to $8,000 for a small studio identity, and $8,000 to $20,000 or more for agency identity work, with full strategy-plus-identity projects going higher. These are agency-published figures rather than survey data. Before spending anything, be clear whether your problem is identity or message: a business nobody understands will not be fixed by better visuals.
Is a rebrand worth it, or should I fix other things first?
Fix other things first, in most cases. A rebrand is warranted when the identity actively misrepresents what the business now does or who it serves; it's rarely the answer to soft sales, unclear messaging or inconsistent delivery, which are the more common underlying problems. Given only 55% of Australian business leaders say their brand is consistent across touchpoints [5], closing that gap usually returns more than a new logo for a fraction of the cost.
How do I measure whether brand experience is improving?
Use commercial signals rather than brand-tracking surveys, which are expensive and slow at small scale. Watch how often prospects ask for discounts, how long deals take from first contact to decision, how many questions arrive that your materials already answer, and what proportion of new customers arrive through referral. A better brand experience should shorten sales cycles and reduce price resistance before it shows up anywhere else.
Sources
Lucidpress, "Study Finds Companies with Consistent Branding Can See Up to 33% Increase in Revenue," PR Newswire, 2 Dec 2019; survey of "over 200 organizations," no published methodology. Respondents estimated expected revenue growth rather than reporting measured outcomes; Lucidpress sold brand template software — prnewswire.com
Marq (formerly Lucidpress), "Brand consistency as a competitive advantage," current page, which states respondents expect a 10 to 20% increase in overall growth — marq.com
PwC, "Experience is everything: Here's how to get it right," Consumer Intelligence Series, March 2018; consumers across 12 countries. Global premium up to 16%; United States 18%; Australia 10% — pwc.com.au
Edelman, 2025 Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust, From We to Me, published 16 Jun 2025; 15,000 respondents across 15 countries including Australia — edelman.com
Tiny Hunter, "Is Brand the Untapped Growth Factor for Australian Business in 2026?" published 12 Nov 2025; 164 Australian CEOs and business leaders across 12 sectors. An Australian brand consultancy publishing research that argues for brand investment — medianet.com.au
First, the brand consistency statistic you should stop quoting
If you've read anything about brand consistency, you've met the claim that consistent presentation increases revenue by up to 33%. It appears in pitch decks, agency proposals and roughly every article on this subject. It does not mean what people think it means.
The figure comes from a 2019 survey of just over 200 brand managers, run by Lucidpress, a company selling brand template software. Respondents were not measured; they were asked what revenue growth they would expect if their brand were consistently maintained. The 33% is people guessing about their own hypothetical performance. The earlier 2016 version of the same research produced 23%. No methodology was ever published, the original report page no longer resolves, and Marq, the company Lucidpress became, now states respondents expect a 10 to 20% increase rather than 33%. The vendor that created the number has quietly revised it down.
We're leading with this because the case for brand experience doesn't need it. There is real evidence, and the real evidence is more useful.
What brand experience is actually worth
PwC's consumer research found customers will pay a premium for a good experience: up to 16% globally, though the Australian figure is a more modest 10%. Most articles quote the global number without mentioning that the Australian one is lower, which is worth knowing if you're setting prices here. The study dates from 2018, so treat it as an established direction rather than a current measurement.
On trust, Edelman's 2025 research across 15 countries including Australia found 80% of people trust the brands they personally use, and that trust now sits alongside quality and price as a purchase consideration. Brand trust built through direct, consistent experience outweighs trust claimed in a campaign.
The most relevant number for an Australian business, though, is this: in a 2025 survey of 164 Australian business leaders, only 55% said their brand was consistent across all touchpoints [5]. Just 16% intended to invest in brand over the following three years, and 11% didn't invest in branding at all. The survey came from an Australian brand consultancy, so it argues for its own service; the brand consistency gap it describes is nonetheless the opportunity, because most of your competitors have it too.
Why inconsistent brand experience compounds
Brand experience isn't one thing. It's the sum of the website, the first email, how a call is answered, what the invoice looks like, the tone of a follow-up, and whether all of it feels like it comes from the same place. Each inconsistency is small alone: a website that feels premium beside a customer service reply that reads as rushed; careful packaging paired with a confusing checkout. No single gap sinks a sale.
Together they create doubt, and doubt is expensive. It shows up as price resistance, where the customer asks for one more discount because something didn't quite convince them of the value. It shows up as longer sales cycles, with more questions and more hesitation than the product warrants. And it shows up as customers needing more reassurance at every step, because nothing in the experience has done that work for them.
Get it right and the reverse happens: customers spend less time evaluating you, because the brand has already done some of the convincing before a conversation starts. That's the real multiplier. Not that consistency feels nicer, but that it removes friction sitting between a prospect and a purchase. It's the same principle as clarity beating loudness in your positioning, extended past the words to every touchpoint.
Where inconsistency usually hides
Rarely in the big, visible things; most businesses get the logo and the website reasonably right. It hides in the smaller touchpoints: how quickly and in what tone an email enquiry is answered; whether the invoice matches the polish of the sales pitch; whether a returning customer is treated with the same warmth as a new prospect being actively courted. Auditing those overlooked moments is usually where the cheapest wins are found, and it connects directly to why good businesses struggle to communicate their value: the parts nobody owns are the parts nobody checks.
A simple brand experience audit to run this month
Walk your own customer journey as a stranger: read the ad or first social post, visit the website, submit an enquiry, read the follow-up email, look at an invoice. At each step, ask whether it feels like it came from the same business as the step before, in tone, in polish, and in its sense of who this company is. Most businesses find one or two points where the experience noticeably drops, usually on the operational or admin side rather than the marketing-facing side.
Those gaps are usually inexpensive to close relative to what they unlock. A consistent email signature, a follow-up written in the same voice as the website, an invoice template that isn't an afterthought; none of these require a rebrand. They require treating every touchpoint as part of the brand, not only the ones the marketing team owns.
Our Brand Experience and Communications work helps make sure every touchpoint pulls in the same direction, not just the logo.
Frequently asked questions
What is brand experience, and how is it different from branding?
Branding is what you design: the name, logo, colours, voice and positioning. Brand experience is what the customer actually encounters, including everything you didn't design on purpose. The invoice, the hold music, the tone of an after-hours email reply and the checkout flow are all brand experience whether anyone treated them that way or not. Most businesses invest in the first and inherit the second.
Does brand consistency really increase revenue?
Probably, but not by the number you've read. The widely quoted "33% revenue increase" is a survey of about 200 brand managers estimating their own hypothetical growth, run by a company selling brand template software, and its successor now says 10 to 20% instead. The defensible version is narrower and still useful: customers pay a premium for good experience, 10% in Australia and up to 16% globally, and consistency is how that experience becomes predictable enough to trust.
How much does branding cost for a small business in Australia?
Published Australian ranges run from roughly $300 to $1,500 for a freelance logo, $2,000 to $8,000 for a small studio identity, and $8,000 to $20,000 or more for agency identity work, with full strategy-plus-identity projects going higher. These are agency-published figures rather than survey data. Before spending anything, be clear whether your problem is identity or message: a business nobody understands will not be fixed by better visuals.
Is a rebrand worth it, or should I fix other things first?
Fix other things first, in most cases. A rebrand is warranted when the identity actively misrepresents what the business now does or who it serves; it's rarely the answer to soft sales, unclear messaging or inconsistent delivery, which are the more common underlying problems. Given only 55% of Australian business leaders say their brand is consistent across touchpoints [5], closing that gap usually returns more than a new logo for a fraction of the cost.
How do I measure whether brand experience is improving?
Use commercial signals rather than brand-tracking surveys, which are expensive and slow at small scale. Watch how often prospects ask for discounts, how long deals take from first contact to decision, how many questions arrive that your materials already answer, and what proportion of new customers arrive through referral. A better brand experience should shorten sales cycles and reduce price resistance before it shows up anywhere else.
Sources
Lucidpress, "Study Finds Companies with Consistent Branding Can See Up to 33% Increase in Revenue," PR Newswire, 2 Dec 2019; survey of "over 200 organizations," no published methodology. Respondents estimated expected revenue growth rather than reporting measured outcomes; Lucidpress sold brand template software — prnewswire.com
Marq (formerly Lucidpress), "Brand consistency as a competitive advantage," current page, which states respondents expect a 10 to 20% increase in overall growth — marq.com
PwC, "Experience is everything: Here's how to get it right," Consumer Intelligence Series, March 2018; consumers across 12 countries. Global premium up to 16%; United States 18%; Australia 10% — pwc.com.au
Edelman, 2025 Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust, From We to Me, published 16 Jun 2025; 15,000 respondents across 15 countries including Australia — edelman.com
Tiny Hunter, "Is Brand the Untapped Growth Factor for Australian Business in 2026?" published 12 Nov 2025; 164 Australian CEOs and business leaders across 12 sectors. An Australian brand consultancy publishing research that argues for brand investment — medianet.com.au
