There is one question that is often overlooked: How do we want the customer to feel during their interactions with our brand?
Because CX is not only about what the customer gets but also about what they feel.
The product can be high-quality. The process can be simple. The price can be competitive. Delivery can be fast. In every interaction the customer will feel something — security, trust, relief, satisfaction, happiness, respect, fear, frustration or dissatisfaction.
And it is precisely this emotional trace — the “emotional imprint” we leave behind — that shapes how the customer perceives the overall experience and what they remember about it.
• We may solve the customer’s problem but if they reach the solution feeling that no one was listening to them the experience will not necessarily be positive.
• We may have an excellent product but if we make the customer feel uncertain during the purchase process it will be difficult to build trust.
That is why when designing customer experience we should not only ask: “What does the customer need to do?”
We should also ask: “How do we want the customer to feel while doing it?”
Emotions are not a “soft” topic — they have a significant impact on business results
Emotions influence customer behavior. They affect whether a customer will trust the brand, complete a purchase, return, recommend the company to others and how tolerant they will be when something goes wrong.
That is why emotional experience is one of the mechanisms through which business results are achieved.
• When customers trust a company they find it easier to make a decision.
• When they feel that the company understands them they are more likely to stay.
• When a problem is resolved in a way that restores their sense of control a negative experience does not necessarily have to end in customer loss.
And when a customer feels that a company has done more than they expected it creates an experience that is remembered.
Emotional experience creates differentiation
Imagine two companies providing exactly the same functional service.
Both have a good product, an acceptable price, deliver within the agreed timeframe and provide good customer support.
On paper they are very similar.
But one creates a sense of security and simplicity while the other creates a sense of uncertainty and effort.
Will customers perceive these two companies in the same way?
Probably not.
This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to build differentiation based solely on the functional characteristics of a product or service.
Competitors can copy product functionality and processes but it is much harder to copy the overall feeling a customer has throughout their interactions with an organization.
What do we actually want the customer to feel?
We cannot design emotions with complete precision nor can we control how every individual will feel. What we can do is design circumstances that increase the likelihood of a particular emotional response.
• If we want customers to feel secure we need to design clear information, transparent terms and predictable processes.
• If we want them to feel that things are simple we need to remove unnecessary steps, complications and repetition.
• If we want them to feel trust we need to be consistent and deliver on our promises.
• If we want them to feel that they matter to us we need to design interactions in which their time, effort and context are taken seriously.
In other words:
Emotional experience is not something that simply happens. To a large extent it can — and should — be designed.
Emotions need to be connected to specific touchpoints
One of the mistakes in managing emotions in CX is looking at them too abstractly.
It is not enough to say:
“We want our customers to be happy.”
That is not specific enough to guide the design of a customer journey.
It is much more useful to define an emotional goal for key moments in the customer journey.
For example:
Before the purchase
We want the customer to feel secure and clear about their decision.
During the purchase
We want them to feel simplicity and control.
After the purchase
We want them to feel confident that what was promised will be delivered.
When a problem occurs
We want them to feel that we are listening that we understand and that we will take responsibility for resolving the issue.
After the problem has been successfully resolved
We want to restore trust and leave the customer with the feeling that the company was on their side.
The most important moment is not always the most frequent one
A customer may purchase a product ten times without any problems. Then one day a serious issue occurs.
At that moment their perception of the company can change significantly.
That is why a CX strategy should pay particular attention to moments that are emotionally important not only those that occur most frequently from an operational perspective.
In these moments customers are not simply evaluating how efficient the process is.
They are evaluating whether they can trust the company.
What about employee emotions?
This brings us to an area that organizations often overlook.
We cannot sustainably design a great customer experience if we neglect employee experience.
An employee who has to choose between following a procedure and doing what they believe is best for the customer is placed in a conflict.
If an employee does not have enough information, authority or support to resolve a problem it is difficult to expect the customer to feel trust, understanding and care.
That is why there is a strong connection between Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX).
The employee experience is transferred to the customer through every conversation, decision and interaction.
• If we want customers to experience simplicity we need to enable employees to work simply.
• If we want customers to feel trust employees need enough information and authority to take ownership and responsibility.
• If we want customers to feel heard we need to create a culture in which employees also have the space to be heard.
How do we measure emotions?
If emotions are important can we actually measure them?
We can — but not with a single metric.
Classic CX metrics such as NPS, CSAT, CES, retention, churn rate, conversion rate and complaint rate can show us what is happening.
But on their own they often do not explain well enough why it is happening.
That is why organizations can combine transactional metrics with research into customers’ emotional needs and perceptions.
This gives us a connection between what customers do what they say and what they feel.
And it is precisely this combination that provides a stronger foundation for CX decisions.
The goal is to understand which experiences and emotions drive customer behavior and how this translates into business performance.
From emotion to business results
Emotion itself is not a business objective.
But how a customer feels can strongly influence what they do next — whether they buy return stay recommend us or leave.
That is why the key question for management is:
What emotions are we creating for our customers and what behavior do those emotions encourage?
Of course business results are never the consequence of a single emotion or a single CX element. They are influenced by the product, price, competition, market conditions and many other factors.
But we cannot ignore the emotional dimension of the experience.
The best customer experience is not simply one that is fast simple and functional.
It is an experience that makes the customer want to do business with us again.