It’s how you make them feel.

 

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

Experiences that are important to the customer create loyalty. Such experiences trigger positive emotions in the customer and increase loyalty.

Successful companies have customer experience management strategies. They create moments or processes that can lead to unique and positive experiences. They then trigger positive emotional values for customers.

Virgin Media looked at how to deliver their brand value of heartfelt service. They measure how contact with their frontline employees makes customers feel. They also check what they then say about Virgin Media.

They had over 3 million pieces of customer feedback – good and bad. To understand these, they built two innovative tools:

The first summarised comments in a structured way. The second quantified customer comments about staff behaviours, enabling further insight. Behaviours improved across all customer touchpoints in every Virgin Media customer journey. It improved the end-to-end customer experience.

World First wanted their clients to feel extra special when they used their services. They started a programme of client gifting. Clients get a handmade gift after their first trade. They then get a hand-written thank you card after three months of trading. World First also send gifts to their corporate clients to enjoy on bonfire night. “Client feedback is excellent. We believe these are the little things that make it easier to remember us”

So, what do you know about how you make your customers feel – what feedback do you get and how do you analyse it? Do you just look for functional things to change? Do you stop to think about how your customers feel and how you can make them feel more positive about you more often?

 

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