5 Tips to increase emotional connection in your customer experience

There’s a strange paradox that occurs in the business world: at some point, people forget what it’s like to BE a customer.

We’ve all done it – gotten so wrapped up in the daily grind of meetings, budgets, and deliverables that we grow detached from our customer because they are outside the company. We may think, “It’s not relevant to my job, they’re not on my team, they’re not me.”

But to every other business on earth, you ARE the customer.

When you grab a coffee, drive to work, read your email or write on a whiteboard, when you adjust your clothes before a presentation, ride an elevator, look at the clock. All day, every day you are a customer of countless products and services.

And if all those businesses that produce that infrastructure for you did not care about giving you a great experience, your day would be much less comfortable.

As a consumer, if you cannot easily get what you want, when you want it, it’s likely you’ll drop one product or service for another until you get the experience you want. And when you get it and keep getting it, you increase emotional connection to that brand —and perhaps become a loyal customer.

As a business, that’s what you’re shooting for, so don’t just give your customers the best YOU can think of; give them what THEY value most.

5 ways to increase emotional connection in your customer experience

1 – Value what they value

What are the things that matter most to your target customers and why? Frame your business strategy, offerings, and communications around what resonates best with your audience to help them connect emotionally to your brand.

2 – Avoid one-size-fits-all

Even if you can’t create a unique experience for every customer, you can create experiences that make people feel recognized as valuable. Beyond showing appreciation, address what’s most relevant and helpful for each person in each interaction.

Personalization is now a key expectation for consumers, especially younger generations. Offerings and communications should be tailored to reflect the nuances of different segments. It demonstrates you understand their needs, attitudes, and preferences. Creating customer personas is an effective way to encapsulate this understanding, and helps you see how segments differ.

TIP: Check out Why customer personas matter for improving business outcomes

3 – Put yourself in their shoes

Every time you write customer communications, answer a support call, design a product, it’s an opportunity to increase emotional connection to your brand.

Ask yourself: “What if this was for me? How would I feel?”  Most of us want more than having basic needs met; we want to feel confident, comfortable, even delighted. If you can deliver that experience for customers — you’re golden.

That said, it’s also critical to understand that customer empathy isn’t imagining how YOU would feel in their situation. It’s about imagining who THEY are and their unique situation, and based on that — imagining how they might feel as they interact with your company.

TIP: Check out Empathy as a Superpower: 4 Steps to getting it right

4 – Rely on data-driven insights, not best guesses

Too often businesses do what they think is right for customers, but it’s based more on what the company can do than what customers say they want.

To increase emotional connection in your customer experience, listen and learn through a Voice of the Customer program. Then take action for targeted improvements. It’s a great way to put your Big Data to work for making better decisions and creating measurable impact.

5 – Create win-win scenarios

Typically, when your customers are happy, your business is happy. If your customers can get what they want and feel great doing it, they’ll keep coming back, buy more, say good things about you, refer you to others. That’s good for your business, so you win too.

Every day you go to work, think like a customer. Consider how much you value an experience when you easily get what you need, and feel great doing it. That’s the customer experience you want your company to deliver.

 

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