<\/p>\n
Since 2005, over 50,000 respondents, in 49 countries and multiple b2b and b2c industries have participated in research incorporating the Hierarchy model emotions. Some additional stats: We have asked approximately 4.5 million total survey questions, with several million devoted to emotions and feelings related to experience. It is core to our Emotional SignatureR stakeholder experience research protocol.<\/p>\n
In this post, we are addressing the perceived value influence of emotions and memory on b2b and b2c customers. Recognize, though, that emotions can apply equally to employees.<\/p>\n
Back to the Hierarchy. The model has a total of 20 net stakeholder emotions. Eight of these are negative, which we define as Value Destroyers:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Dissatisfied
\n\u2013 Frustrated
\n\u2013 Disappointed
\n\u2013 Irritated
\n\u2013 Stressed
\n\u2013 Unhappy
\n\u2013 Neglected
\n\u2013 Hurried<\/p>\n
We recognize that the perception of value can be compromised at any stage of a customer\u2019s life and in any element of the customer experience. If these emotions have a powerful and lasting effect, they can undermine perceived benefit and contribute to churn. It\u2019s essential that existence of these emotions be identified so that relationship risk can be mitigated or eliminated.<\/p>\n
The Hierarchy identifies 12 Positive Emotions:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Happy
\n\u2013 Pleased
\n\u2013 Trusting
\n\u2013 Valued
\n\u2013 Cared For
\n\u2013 Safe
\n\u2013 Focused
\n\u2013 Indulgent
\n\u2013 Stimulated
\n\u2013 Exploratory
\n\u2013 Interested
\n\u2013 Energetic<\/p>\n
Of these, 5 of the emotions \u2013 Interested, Energetic, Exploratory, Indulgent, and Stimulated \u2013 are what is described as \u201cAttention\u201d, that is only mildly positive and short-term in their effect on perception and decision making. Moving up the Hierarchy, 5 of the emotions \u2013 Trusting, Valued, Cared For, Safe, and Focused \u2013 are more leveraging, actively contributing to building and sustaining customer relationships.<\/p>\n
At the peak of the Hierarchy pyramid is a set of 2 emotions \u2013 Happy and Pleased \u2013 defined as the Advocacy Cluster. It is here that great, differentiated (and often unique) and memorable CX lives.<\/p>\n
For my key example of practical creation of customer advocacy, I\u2019m reprising material on my exposure to lagniappe, and what it can do for any company, irrespective of size, industry, or location.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not familiar with lagniappe, I\u2019ll briefly explain what it is. When my wife and I visited Southern Louisiana a couple of years ago, we noticed that a lot of retailers differentiated themselves by doing a little something extra for customers. One experience that stood out was our dinner at Restaurant R\u2019evolution at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter. If you don\u2019t order dessert (we didn\u2019t, because we were too full from the appetizer and main course), the waiter brings a multi-drawer red Peruvian jewelry box. Each drawer has a different little candy, cookie, or pastry inside. It\u2019s cost-free, delightful and memorable. It\u2019s experience lagniappe.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the reality about experience lagniappe: It isn\u2019t new. The idea of providing customers with a little extra value has been known for over a century. \u201cWe picked up one excellent word\u201d, wrote Mark Twain in Life on the Mississippi (1883), \u201ca word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word -\u2018lagniappe\u2019\u2026. It is Spanish, so they said.\u201d Twain encapsulated the history of \u201clagniappe\u201d quite nicely. English speakers learned the word from French-speaking Louisianians, but they in turn had adapted it from the American Spanish word la \u00f1apa. Twain went on to describe how New Orleansians completed shop transactions by saying \u201cGive me something for lagniappe,\u201d to which the shopkeeper would respond with \u201ca bit of licorice-root, a cheap cigar or a spool of thread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe Twain thought that lagniappe was a unique and memorable retail transaction concept, but customers would be hard-pressed to find it consistently in experiences they receive from most b2b and b2c organizations, from anywhere in the U.S. or the world. It is rarely conceived or offered. This is a reason why so many of the emotions in the Hierarchy are negative or mildly positive.<\/p>\n
Creating advocacy-level emotions of pleasure and happiness requires staying on top of customer expectations by proactively engaging with them across multiple channels \u2013 Email, Website, In-store and more. Moreover, virtually any company can do experience lagniappe. How?<\/p>\n
1) Make the small investment in enhancing employee experience, and have them focus on customer value. Empower and enable employees to be more mindful of delivering what customers need and want, irrespective of level or function within the company.<\/p>\n
2) Make the small investment to identify and understand what customers value on an emotional, not just physical, level, and determine what is memorable about the experience.<\/p>\n
3) Overpromise and overdeliver, consistently, on experience.<\/p>\n
4) Where customers and experience are concerned, think \u2018human\u2019, i.e. TD Bank\u2019s \u201cBank Human Again\u201d marketing campaign.<\/p>\n
5) Recognize that company and product\/service image and reputation are integral to customer perception of value.<\/p>\n
6) Work to build and institutionalize customer value delivery, i.e. conscious customer-centricity, into the enterprise DNA<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also important, even critical, that enterprise leaders recognize the value of emotionally positive and unique experience delivery. Experience lagniappe is out there. It doesn\u2019t require very much in the way of financial investment, innovation or ingenuity. Just a willingness to \u2018think customer\u2019, and consistently execute just a bit outside the box.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve written about Vernon Hill, who founded Commerce Bank in the U.S. and Metro Bank in the U.K. He understands lagniappe. From my blog covering what Metro does to distinguish its banking experience: \u201c\u2026what further distinguishes Metro are some of the little touches \u2013 free lollipops on the counter for the kids, and water bowls for customers\u2019 dogs. As Hill has noted: \u201cThere are always some economic case studies that prove cutting costs or raising fees makes sense. But there\u2019s never been one that says being nice to dogs or being open seven days a week makes sense. It\u2019s about building fans of your service, not customers. Great companies build fans who become loyal, remain loyal, and bring their friends.\u201d Lagniappe works.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRepublished with permission from CustomerThink.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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