Customer Experiences are emotional. They draw you in and create a feeling inside you…good or bad. Regardless of which it is, something changes inside you when you have an experience with a company. As a company, do you “leverage” and “extend” this feeling or “kill” it when you deliver your customer experience?
The buying process, whether B2C or B2B, starts with a need and some degree of emotion. The need, whether it might be out of necessity or a dream of owning something, congers up an emotion inside everyone. It’s easy to see this when you are buying the engagement ring for your to-be bride, there is a ton of emotions running through your body, transforming yourself to a place of wonderfulness just thinking about purchasing this ring. But it is also, albeit less exciting, an emotional situation when a company is buying supplies from their local distributor. The company might not be dreaming of the future like the guy buying the engagement ring but they are feeling a sense of relief, ease, and accomplishment when they know they have taken care of this company need. Regardless of the degree, there is emotion with a purchase.
The key is what you do to either “extend” this emotion further and stronger with the customer or does your experience “kill” it and make it head the other direction? No one ever admits doing the latter, but they do…every day.
How do you “extend” the emotional feeling for the customer? At the time of purchase, they are at a “high” in the buying cycle…their emotions are peaked because they actually moved from “dream/need” to “execution/accomplishment.” This is one of the “moments of truth” where you get to leverage this emotion for the customer or do things that make it less enjoyable. Making this an enjoyable, remarkable, memorable experience is what will push most customers over the edge where they want to share it, spread the word, and create word-of-mouth. If you miss this point, they still might have a great experience, but usually won’t talk about it. The beauty is that it is in your control.
So when you look at your “buying process” ask yourself which direction it will take immediately during and after purchase. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and see how you would react during this moment of truth. Ask your employees to do the same and then write down the emotions they feel and are experiencing. If the words are “great, good, OK, it works, or it went well” you missed the opportunity. If the words are “awesome, amazing, remarkable, or incredible” you hit the mark. These are the experiences people talk about and share. Take the test…regardless of the results there is always room for improvement.
