The link between customer service and emotion is one of the earliest connections we make. Remember the joy you felt as a kid when you finally got that comic book or toy you’d been eyeing. Now ask yourself: When was the last time a purchase you made as an adult sparked that same kind of feeling?
While hard numbers like price and value are key to success, a customer’s perception of what you’re providing for them is also emotional. Customers develop bonds with companies that cater to their needs and
make them feel good. These emotional bonds form the foundation for customer loyalty. When a customer is loyal, they’ll make regular repeat purchases and even recommend your product or service to others.
In other words, delivering a customer experience (CX) that resonates on an emotional level with buyers can pay some serious dividends. But how can you get there? And how should you be measuring success?
Creating the Right Emotional Response
Far too many companies focus solely on how their customers feel about their products. Instead, they need to also look at how their products or services make customers feel about themselves. When customers feel good after a purchase, they’ll be more likely to feel validated for spending their money with you — and more likely to spend again.
Core emotions are obviously difficult to convert into data points. Luckily, there are a few metrics businesses use for these kinds of insights. In general, the data used to make these calculations is collected with customer surveys following a transaction.
In its July 2021 report “Use Customer Service Experience Metrics That Are Better Than NPS,” Gartner points to a few common metrics companies use to evaluate the impact of customer experience and emotion, with varying levels of effectiveness.
The Best Metric for Measuring Core Emotions
While each of these metrics has its uses, the Gartner report suggested that Value Enhancement Score (VES) is by far the best indicator of how a customer feels after purchase — and, most importantly, whether they’re likely to repurchase, buy new products and provide positive word of mouth.
Customers that receive value enhancement during a service interaction have an:
VE is also an area that many companies fall short on. In fact, according to another Gartner report entitled “Eighty-Five Percent of Your Customers Feel They Are Not Receiving Value: How Do You Fix It?,” only 15% of customers report finding this kind of value in a given interaction. Many of these companies falling short may very well be your competition — giving you a prime opportunity to increase your market share.
82%chance of staying with a company even if they’re presented with the opportunity to switch
86%
of increasing their wallet share
97%chance of giving a word of mouth recommendation of your product.
Delivering an Emotional Experience for Customers
Now that you understand how to properly measure emotion, it’s time to shape your customer experience based on that information. One key area to focus on is giving your agents the support they need to provide the most value possible in each interaction — including tools to support them during complex interactions.
For more information about how to boost your customer satisfaction levels and help your agents, download our Agent Assist Playbook. Download Now