Engage Your Customers Emotionally To Create
Advocates
By Colin Shaw, Beyond Philosophy
I
placed my items on the belt at the supermarket. The clerk
scanned and bagged them. The amount was displayed on the screen.
I handed over my credit card and smiled. I, then, realized that
no one had said anything!
The
clerk swiped my card. I signed. And just as I was leaving, I
said to her, "It would have been nice if you had said, 'Thank
you.'" She replied, "I don't need to. It is written on the
receipt."
Ever since that day, I have been on a campaign to see the number
of customer experiences I can have without people saying a word.
It is surprising how many there can be.
Unfortunately, many organizations think their job is to process
customers. But at
Beyond
Philosophy, we believe all organizations are on a
journey from
Naïve to
Natural, in the way they are orientated around the
customer.
Sixty-seven percent of organizations are transactional; they
treat customers as a transaction, something to be processed.
They are looking only at what we would call the physical, or the
rational, aspects of the customer experience. They do not
appreciate that 50 percent of a customer experience is about how
a customer feels. But in researching my book,
The DNA
of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value,
with the London Business School, we proved that emotions drive
or destroy value.
When the clerk failed to thank me, I felt "irritated"; I felt
that the organization didn't "value" me. As a consequence, even
though the store is actually closer to my home, I now drive past
it to shop three miles away. This store that's farther away
makes me feel "valued," and I feel the people there "care" for
me. In other words, they emotionally engage with me.
Our
research suggests that there are four "clusters" of emotions
that affect value. Two clusters of emotions, "happy" and
"pleased," lead people to become advocates—not just recommending
a business or product but also doing so without being
prompted to.
To
design an experience that is emotionally engaging to create
advocates, you need to map the journey. While many
methodologies, including Six Sigma and Lean CRM, are good at
redesigning a process; their aim is operational efficiency. Any
improvement to the customer experience may be only a byproduct.
They focus on the physical and rational aspects of the
experience and do not look at the emotional side. This means
they effectively are ignoring half of the experience.
A
process we developed, called Moment Mapping®, enables you to
design an emotionally engaging customer experience. We identify
the combustion points that drive the destroying cluster of
emotions and embed "emotional cookies" that will evoke the
desired emotions that create customer advocates.
Consider what happened with a
U.S. bank that asked us to redesign its branch loan experience.
When we mapped the "as is" experience of customers, we found
different customer types, including these three:
·
Principal's office. These younger people
were nervous about asking for a loan. One described the
experience as feeling "like I was going to see the principal,
and I had done something wrong." These customers tried to do as
much as they could online. But to secure a loan, they had to
submit to an interview and sign papers.
·
Dignity. These older people just felt
embarrassed. They had been brought up with the belief that you
shouldn't borrow money and "pay your way."
·
Sophisticates. These experienced loan
buyers were very knowledgeable. They entered the experience
feeling confident and assured, and they wanted to complete this
as quickly as possible.
When we mapped the "as is" experience; the customer would be
invited to the branch and asked to sit in a waiting area that
was open and in full view of all customers. This was a major
"combustion point," which, we discovered, had had a different
emotional effect on each group.
For
those in the "principal's office" group, Waiting just confirmed
that those in the "principal's office" group were going to see
the principal! Our hidden cameras revealed them fidgeting and
sitting on the edge of their chairs. The longer they were kept
waiting, the more intense was their feeling of inferiority and
the greater their concern.
Sitting in a waiting area in full view of everyone contributed
to the discomfort of those in the "dignity" group. They tended
to sit with their backs to the other customers and "hide" as
much as possible. In one of the branches, "dignity" customers
preferred sitting behind a large plant!
The
"sophisticates" who thought the whole process was a waste of
time found waiting very frustrating. We could have called this
group "the prowlers." About 65 percent of them didn't sit. They
prowled around, waiting to be called in, so they could leave and
get on with something more productive.
We
recommended that the bank alter the experience for each of these
groups and design-in these "emotional cookies." There were some
common aspects that would help all these particular groups in
different ways. For example, people in all these groups wanted
to be seen quickly, although it was for different reasons. So
the bank implemented a more efficient appointment system. We
also trained all the branch staff on the characteristics of the
groups and explained how to identify them.
We
proposed that "principal's office" customers be put at ease by
branch employees who were not sitting behind desks. We also
ensured that the employees spend time making small talk with
these customers, explaining what was going to happen.
For
those in the "dignity" group, we allocated a longer period of
time for their "confession" of why they needed the money. Our
research showed that, when they did this, they would feel that a
burden had been lifted. We also moved the waiting areas into a
more secluded place to help customers in this group.
For
the "sophisticates," we speeded up the process. We also enhanced
the background checks to ensure they were not bad payers. We
made sure that no time was wasted on settling them down at the
beginning of the interview. It was very businesslike and
efficient, to make sophisticated customers happy.
As
a result of the changes, loan conversions increased by 17
percent, and referral and loyalty increased.
By
looking at customer experience from an emotional point of view
and designing these emotions into your customers' experience,
you can have a dramatic effect on revenue and customer advocacy.
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