The case for emotion in customer experience

This is the first in our series on Emotion Design in CX. Read the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in this series next.

Designing for emotion is becoming an increasingly important element of customer experience. Whether conscious or not, customers make many of their decisions based on how they feel, by their emotions. In fact, over 50% of the customer experience involves emotion.* According to Harvard Business Review, emotion is a key driver of the most profitable customer behavior, influencing customer spend, loyalty, advocacy and customer lifetime value more than any other single driver. Emotion can also be a predictor of business results. For example, an increase in customer fees may cause a temporary uptick in revenue, but uncovering customer’s emotions at the time will likely predict a fall-off in the next business cycle.

In the past, organizations believed emotion to be subjective and unpredictable, making it too difficult to measure and harness as a way to design experiences. However, customer research has proven this to be a myth. In fact, Forrester notes that emotional responses are predictable, just governed differently than traditional business metrics. Companies are now realizing the powerful influence of emotions within customer experience, and using emotional connection to attract and retain their most valuable customers. Emotional connection is the level at which a customer fully connects with a brand. According to HBR, fully connected customers are 52% more valuable than satisfied ones because they spend more money, more often, and advocate for the brand at much higher rates than average customers.

Emotion is an impactful undercurrent of customer experience that businesses should not only design for, but also incorporate into their CX strategy to grow customer connection and loyalty. Emotion-based experience design is fairly nascent, presenting an opportunity to test and learn, and tap into an under-served area as a new source of competitive advantage. By focusing on emotion as a key element of CX (how interactions make customers feel), your business can better understand customer needs, improve brand interactions, and ultimately increase customer value.

*Source: DNA of Customer Experience, Colin Shaw

For a comprehensive view on the value of customer connection, download The Ultimate Guide to Customer Engagement.