Customer Service vs Customer Experience: Winning Hearts and Minds

Emotional Engagement with Customers is Key in delivering a great Customer Experience  

Customer service isn't usually thought of as emotional but having a connection with your customers that's about more than just the product can help strengthen ties and build long-lasting relationships. This is highly important to build loyalty and have your customers not only return but ‘spread the good word’ about your services.  

What is an emotional connection?  

An emotional connection pertains to how a customer feels about your company. Do your customers feel appreciated and valued? Do they feel pride in the fact that they use your products and services? You want them to feel strongly about your business.  

An emotional connection to your customers is one that captures their hearts and minds. You want them to feel good when they think of you.  

How to use emotion in your customer service  

Any interaction from a customer is an opportunity to make an emotional connection. While this is easy to think of when we are face to face with our customers, but it can also be extended to emails, phone calls or even customer self-service if you use the right software with smart Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning.  

Listen  

Another way to help customers feel that they are valued is to make sure customer service staff really listen to the customer's needs. Staff should let customers talk as much as they want. By making it clear that they're really there to listen and help, staff are opening the door to let customers vent about their problems. From there, they can work to help alleviate the points of pain. Also, all of that information can be recorded into your customer complaint system used to help provide better service in the future.  

Go above and beyond customer expectations  

Every customer has an expectation of what will occur when they interact with your business. You need to not only meet those expectations but exceed them (refer to content on exceeding expectations). According to Denise Lee Yohn, a brand-building expert, speaker, writer and contributor to Forbes, companies who exceed customer expectations will win their hearts, which is highly valuable. A good way to do that is to make recommendations and share experiences with customers. These experiences and insights will show that your business really cares.