We’ve probably all heard some story about over the top customer experience in our day.
Like the story about the family on vacation at the Ritz Carlton, Bali. The family of a child with a severe food allergy was on vacation. The specialty food they’d brought for their child spoiled en route. When they arrived, the manager of the hotel consulted with his executive chef who was unaware of any shops on the island that stocked the specialty items. But he did recall a shop in Singapore, where his mother-in-law lived, that stocked food the child could safely eat. So, what did he do? He called his mother-in-law, had her get the items and jump on a plane to Bali. In case your geography is a little rusty, that’s a three or more hour flight.
Stories such as these make for great PR, and these acts of kindness help cement relationships between individuals and brands. (Could you see this family NOT going back to the Ritz?) The problem is that these expectation-exceeding, delightful experiences don’t scale. That’s why companies need to focus on delivering great experiences, day in and day out, with products and services that meet customer needs, are easy to use, and are emotionally engaging.
It’s this last piece—emotional engagement—that’s so hard to pin down. Why? First off, what’s enjoyable or engaging is subjective. While one person’s idea of a good time might be jumping out of an airplane at 15,000 feet, another person might think that’s a foolish way to get one’s kicks. What’s more, many of the things we offer, thinking they’re to a customer’s benefit, such as providing seemingly unlimited product configurations or service choices, actually induce negative emotions like anxiety and hurt the decision-making process.
To top things off, it’s hard to sustain enjoyable, engaging experiences from start to finish. Ever been to the theatre to watch an otherwise satisfying movie only to be disappointed with the ending? How about being treated like royalty when you’re considering signing up for a service only to be disappointed by how you were treated once you became a paying customer?
In today’s experience-based economy, things like price don’t matter as much as experience. From conference stages I like to ask audience members if they got a coffee from outside the conference that morning. Invariably about half raise their hands. Why would they buy coffee from the specialty shop in the lobby when the coffee is free at the conference? It’s not just because of taste. It’s because of the experience of having it made to order. It’s also about how the customer sees themself and how that self is reflected by the brand.
It’s not necessarily conscious, but most of what we do is ruled by subconscious decisions. How then do companies make emotional connections with their customers? By delivering on people’s four core needs:
So how can you deliver emotionally engaging and enjoyable experiences?
Every experience and every decision a person makes is guided by a combination of reason and emotion. Marketers are great about getting emotion into the promises of their messaging, but need to ensure more of it goes into the delivery of the experience.
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