Skating on the customer experience we offer?

Part 1 – Tips for having fans

So, let’s reflect: Are we fully aware of the experience we offer our customers? Companies talk about putting the customer at the centre, but what are we doing to achieve this?

Do we really listen to our customers, do we know their expectations and needs, do we harness the potential of neuroscience?

As consumers, we have changed the way we make purchasing decisions and how we want to be served.

All the changes caused by the digital transformation have led companies into a race to make the customer journey more agile and digital, with the aim of achieving a faster and more intuitive relationship.

But although organisations are full of good intentions, many of them fail to deliver, because although the customer wants a more agile and intuitive relationship, at critical moments, which is where they feel most helpless, they don’t want to be digital; they want someone to understand them quickly and solve their problem. And not only that, they want it to be as fast as a digital experience. These are the customers that WGSN Insight in its annual “Consumer of the Future” Whitepaper calls Neo-sensorialists; they love technology, but they don’t want to see life through a virtual reality headset.

Companies ask themselves: But … how? Why? And … what do they want now? What are we doing wrong?

Today, the customer relationship model is connected to emotions. We must teach our teams (digital and human/online and offline) to connect emotionally with the customer. And this connection goes beyond a mere relationship.

If we want to generate an unforgettable Customer Experience and keep customers coming back, as well as using generative AI to accelerate the delivery of a more humanised journey that feels personal and interactive in the ON world, we must also trigger “memory” and reduce/avoid friction in the OFF world.

Memory is generated in the consumer’s mind as a result of their relationship with the brand. And this memory only exists if we manage to generate emotion and connect with the customer before, during and after the purchase.

This emotion is sometimes controlled by the company itself (e.g. product delivery, digital service…), but sometimes not (e.g. social media posts). What is certain is that both cases affect brand recall, which is why we must endeavour to have a 360-degree view of all the aspects that influence the customer’s image of the company, regardless of whether we control it or not. And that’s where the challenge lies.

Below, I’ll share some important elements for generating this connection, this memory, this emotion:

• It all starts with a purpose. Just as customers today have a purpose and prioritise companies that are socially responsible, digital, diverse, inclusive, etc., our employees, whether or not they are on the front line with customers, must also have a purpose. They should make it clear that they enjoy interacting with customers and ask themselves: “What motivates me to wake up every morning? Do my principles coincide with those of my company? Do I enjoy what I do and do it with passion?

• Tap into the customer’s emotions. If I like what I do, it’s easier to think of the best way to get satisfied customers. To do this, it’s important to understand emotions. When customers express themselves, they are not being objective, they are relating facts and opinions. And if we’re professionals, we know that opinions are emotions, what the customer feels (anger, sadness, joy, insecurity, …). Let’s be empathetic. Let’s try to understand who this customer is and how they feel.

• Let’s pay attention to opinions. Remember the Iceberg concept and try to really understand what the customer values. By expressing their opinion, they show us the deeper layers of what they really value.

For example, if they always like to be fashionable, wanting to be fashionable is just the tip of the iceberg. In the deeper layers, it may be that this customer wants to be fashionable because then he will feel accepted. In reality, what they are looking for is acceptance. By identifying this in the customer, you can personalise your communication to provide this feeling of acceptance, which is what they are really looking for.

• Generate the Connection. Understanding who this customer is and how they feel is essential, as it will make it easier to connect with them. And that’s where the possibility of generating MEMORY begins. But it’s not enough to identify the customer’s emotion, you have to act and generate the connection. How? Attitudes such as knowing how to listen and capture details, conveying concern about urgency, simplifying the conversation… are essential to make the customer connect with us and thus capture their attention.

• Personalised communication. If we add to all this the possibility of personalising the conversation, referring to the data the customer has given us and using didactic, collaborative, positive and decisive language, we will give the customer security and confidence, humanising the relationship with them.

• Welcoming Response. In short, it’s about welcoming, valuing the client and their problem and making them feel exactly that, that they are important to us.

It sounds easy, but it isn’t.

Sensitising our teams to the importance that the CUSTOMER has for the company and that they must be at the CENTRE of our decisions is fundamental if we are not to continue slipping up in the experiences we offer.

Today, live and immersive experiences strongly influence the future not only of physical shopping but also of online shopping. So don’t forget the phrase that Prahalad said and with which I began this article – “The experience is the brand”!