Connecting the Dots Between Emotions and Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is tremendously emotional. Businesses that recognize the power of their customers’ feelings can gain essential insight into what they’re thinking. More importantly, this insight can help them garner and maintain brand loyalty.
One of the main reasons people seek out customer service is that their expectations have not been met. It could be a service problem, a product malfunction or general dissatisfaction with the experience. Whatever has happened, the consumer is seeking aout an ally within the company who can right a wrong, preferably without any drama.
Customer vulnerability bubbles to the surface as the business holds the cards and controls the situation. The hope is that the customer service representative will be respectful, listen to their concerns and cooperate to find an acceptable solution, as opposed to engaging in a hostile interaction where two-way communication is non-existent.
Another volatile emotion around the customer experience is linked to fear. Will the customer service rep be mean and nasty? Will the person on the other end of the phone be curt and cut them off when they explain their predicament? What if there’s no response to e-mail requests? No one wants to waste their time or energy getting involved in a hassle.
If there’s no positive resolution to consumer’s requests, anger intensifies. For example, if the wait time at a customer service counter or on the phone is excessive, anger mounts quickly. Waiting is a frequent part of the human condition, but it doesn’t mean we enjoy it. The key is to remove anger from the customer experience as quickly as possible. The longer customers are held in purgatory, the more they’re going to think they’re in hell. The goal, of course, is to get them to heaven, as fast as possible.
Ultimately, the goal of the customer experience is happiness. Through that positive connection, a sense of validation and enhancement of self esteem is established. The consumer feels smart, respected and validated for making a wise choice and experiences an overall pleasurable shopping transaction. Exceptional customer service translates into loyalty as it’s more than a monetary transaction, but an opportunity for life improvement and an enhancement of self-esteem. When all is said and done, customer service has the potential to powerfully and positively affect a person’s self image.
Customer vulnerability is exposed in this interaction and the customer service representative plays a pivotal role in validating the customer’s choice in patronizing the company, honoring his/her request. After all, at the end of the day, the customer is always right.
Now more than ever, the emotional dimension is key. Self-initiated customer service specialists—trained to read body language and facial expressions—can improve the relationship on both sides of the issue and keep it “on-emotion.” An esprit de corps develops through the organization as a result of improved relations with customers.
Customers who feel validated have an opportunity to share their positive experience with friends, family and fellow shoppers, and continue to patronize the business. The sooner businesses buy into the value of the investment of recognizing the emotional intuitiveness of customers, the more success they will achieve.
Dan Hill is president of Minneapolis-based marketing firm Sensory Logic
