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Based on results drawn from over 100 categories and nearly a thousand brands, Brand Keys has determined that the average category decision process is now 80 percent emotional and 20 percent rational.\u00a0 This has significant implications for sales, service, marketing, and communications functions for every organization.<\/p>\n
In this post, we\u2019ll address what this, prospectively, means to service groups in better understanding how to optimize this component of the customer journey.<\/p>\n
Not too long ago, a major high-tech company asked Beyond Philosophy to provide insight into our methods for journey-mapping<\/a> their multi-channel customer service experience.\u00a0 In reviewing the overview document they provided, one question which occurred to us was whether the support function was tasked to solve the customer\u2019s problem, as expressed, or proactively own the customer\u2019s issue.\u00a0 The client responded that they didn\u2019t understand our query; and that response, in and of itself, was profound.<\/p>\n During a later review session with the client\u2019s management team which would be involved with the journey mapping project, we reprised the question.\u00a0 We explained that beyond solving the problem from a technical perspective and owning the customer\u2019s issue in a personal way was the critical difference between functional and tangible process and emotionally-based experience.\u00a0 And, when we delved a bit further into the client\u2019s level of understanding about the emotional components of the service experience, it was revealed that such customer research had never been conducted.<\/p>\n Understanding emotional underpinnings of the customer service experience has become pivotal to optimizing both a positive relationship and desirable post-service behavior.\u00a0 It is also an essential element of customer-centricity.\u00a0 If an organization fails to identify, on a prioritized and granular basis, which emotionally-driven elements of service value are, and aren\u2019t, being delivered, even the best and most proactive solutions will not build desired customer loyalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Customer-centricity<\/a>, after all, is about more than structure, strategy and systems.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the differentiation and engagement that lead to bonding between the organization and its stakeholders.\u00a0 It\u2019s also about giving stakeholders a personal investment in the organization and its ongoing success.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the enterprise becoming more proactive, transparent and open, connecting with customers through branded, emotional experiences and sustained value delivery, resulting in its operation as a \u201cconscious capitalist\u201d.\u00a0 One golden opportunity to do this is through personalized service delivery.<\/p>\n Personalized, invested service delivery is also about \u201cbeing human\u201d as an organization, not just as a buzzword to apply to customer experience<\/a> optimization.\u00a0 As Sisodia, Sheth, and Wolfe wrote in their classic customer-centricity book, Firms of Endearment<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we call a humanistic company is run in such a way that its stakeholders \u2013 customers, employees, suppliers, etc. \u2013 develop an emotional connection with it.\u00a0 Humanistic companies seek to maximize their value to society as a whole, not just to their shareholders.\u00a0 They are the ultimate value creators.\u00a0 They create emotional value, experiential value, social value, and, of course, financial value.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Customers have shown strong desire to affiliate, and bond with, companies that are paradigmatic in providing unique, consistent, and value-based experiences and strategic relationships.\u00a0 Again, an ideal place to demonstrate the humanity which transcends process and rules is through customer service.<\/p>\n Personalized customer service says a great deal about the enterprise culture. The most valuable customers appreciate and want more personalization, a relationship, and an emotional connection that can be created through service. It\u2019s up to organizations to a) identify the strongest emotional drivers<\/a> in service and b) effectively leverage them. Successful organizations have either morphed, or have begun, by placing customers\u2019 interests ahead of the enterprise\u2019s. They build a veritable bank account of trust; and high trust, and the positive reputation and image it represents, can be a profitable and sustainable result of more proactive service.\u00a0 This makes owning the customer\u2019s issue a desirable outcome of any service situation.<\/p>\n Republished with permission from CustomerThink.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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