If a brand is not reducing customer stress, it is creating it—and it is vulnerable to losing market share to a more customer empathic competitor.
Steven Cristol and Peter Sealey, Simplicity Marketing

The Two Sides of Customer Emotions

Persuasion and Influence! In today's marketplace customers face abundance of just about everything and choice in what to buy and where to buy it. As result, the ability to persuade and influence customers is essential.

Many businesses believe all you have to do is have a good product and tell customers about it. Unfortunately for them, this approach is producing diminishing returns.

Customers see the majority of products and services as undifferentiated commodities. That is to say, they don't see any functional difference between competitive offers. A very common reaction to this statement is, "that might be true for others but our product is clearly different and superior in the following ways …" Guess what? Most likely customers are not swayed by your persuasion.

Customer are Confronted with Too Much…

Customers are confronted by too much: too much information, too much change, too much uncertainty, too many choices, and too little time. The consequence is anxiety, confusion, frustration and stress. To cope, we avoid the situation, become closed minded, and/or become indifferent. When we have to buy, we trade off price and convenience and move on eagerly.

The marketplace dynamics of ‘too much’ strips away a customer's sense of predictability and control. The resulting negative emotions in customers are not good for business.

The Opportunity

How can you turn this situation into an opportunity?

• Make sure your practices and processes don't contribute to customer confusion, frustration, or anxiety. Are you listening cellular phone companies? Remember, it does not matter that your actions make sense to you—do they make sense to customers?

• Be there to help not just to sell. Research indicates that 1 in 5 customers leave retail stores unserved or underserved. Is anything like this happening in your business? Are you sure?

• Customers often bring emotional baggage with them. Help them deal with the cause of the negative emotions and you will dramatically improve the customer’s experience. A few years ago Avis realized that when customers arrived at the car rental facility, top-of-mind were business issues—is my meeting on schedule, is everything okay at the office, did my package get delivered? All car rental companies strive for a car rental process that is simple and expedient. Avis addressed the issues that were causing customers anxiety. In a short time, Avis's customer ranking jumped from #12 to #1.

The Other Side of Customer Emotions—Engagement

Reducing negative emotions will not lead to lasting loyalty. However, reducing negative emotions still pays off because it opens customers’ minds to persuasion.

Customers who feel good are more receptive to new ideas. When customers gain predictability and control, they gain emotional gratification--they feel GOOD. This gratification leads to INCREASED DESIRE and PASSION that creates loyalty to a company. This is how companies build RELATIONSHIP VALUE.

Apple, Inc demonstrates the power of relationship value. Apple sold more iPhones in 3 days than Motorola was able to sell in the month they introduced their new Razr phone. Apple's passionate customer base carried the message via word-of-mouth, blogging, social networking, etc. The message went to the right people and was extremely persuasive--this is not a new product, this is a new experience. Within a week, and independent of Apple, customers were organizing user groups to expand the value of the iPhone.

Why are Apple customers so passionate and engaged? Apple has always had a special relationship with its customers and this may be the genius of Steve Jobs. Apple enables customers to extract more value out of its products by providing more experiential and emotional gratification. As evidenced by the learning centers and Genius Bars in the Apple Stores, Apple invests heavily in their customers. They help customers reduce frustration and confusion, regain control, and use technology effectively. Customers break through the trust barrier and are willing to make an emotional investment in Apple. They become engaged with new products like the iPhone because of the positive emotional experience they get out of it.

Something to ponder

Only 17% of executive consider customer emotional factors when making decisions. Seventy-four percent say they focus on efficiency rather than trying to understand what customers value. IBM Research 2006 ___________________________________________________________________________________

In our next issue we will cover: Web 2.0 and customer relationships.
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For additional information on putting customer emotions to work for your company, check out the new book by John I. Todor, Ph.D. Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company, go to www.AddictedCustomers.com.

This newsletter is brought to you by The Whetstone Edge, LLC (www.TheWhetstoneEdge.com).

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