Nearly every company watches rational market drivers such as price and product innovation. But today’s customers aren’t deciding how to shop based on these traditional, rational forces alone—they’re also highly influenced by their emotional experiences with a brand. Tuning into and appropriately responding to the customers’ emotional needs is a prerequisite for achieving Customer Engagement. Customer Engagement is important because engaged customers are the ones that stick around for years. They bring in new business with their ebullient recommendations. Ultimately, Customer Engagement boosts your organization’s profit margin, share price, and ROI. To fully engage customers, you must offer an exceptional buying experience, not just another product. But customers’ emotions aren’t one-size-fits all; in order to figure out what each customer wants, front-line employees and managers must have tools that help them maximize their own emotional intelligence.
Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category
The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Delivering Authentic Customer Service
Thursday, February 10th, 2011The Pinnacle of Customer Engagement: Genuine Service
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Over the past few months, we’ve outlined the key findings of PeopleMetrics’ 2010 Most Engaged Customers (MEC) study, which analyzed over 15,000 ratings of 67 brands in 12 industries to establish a hierarchy of characteristics companies must demonstrate to achieve high Customer Engagement. We’ve talked about why Customer Engagement matters, and how companies with a compelling business offer, consistent caring service, customer trust, and extra effort from employees see the highest engagement scores. So far, we’ve created the foundation and core of our pyramid toward Customer Engagement. Now, let’s explore why genuine service sets apart “the cream of the crop” as far as Customer Engagement is concerned.
Take Advantage of the Fact that Customers Never Forget
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Science has shown that humans remember information better when their emotions are involved. As early as 1890, psychologist William James observed that emotions “leave a scar upon the cerebral tissue.” Since then, the number of studies on the connection between emotion and memory has skyrocketed. Only a small fraction of the business world, however, applies this widely accepted psychological concept to customer service programs. When a customer has an emotionally pleasing experience, it almost always goes to his or her long-term memory. Of course, the opposite is also true: an emotionally traumatic customer service experience won’t soon be forgotten. PeopleMetrics’ 2010 Most Engaged Customers study verified that service failures stick like glue in customers’ memories.
How the Mode of Interaction Impacts Customer Engagement
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Last December, many experts were calling 2010 the year of social media—and in many ways they were right. Facebook now has 500 million users, and Twitter signed on over 100 million users in 2010 alone. Nielsen has found that Americans spend a quarter of their time online at social media sites, a 43% increase since 2009. It’s no surprise, then, that marketers around the country are touting the importance of a social media presence in business, and praising customer engagement software for social media management. Yet PeopleMetrics’ 2010 Most Engaged Customers (MEC) study reinforced the age-old idea that face-to-face interaction is best as far as customer service is concerned.
Why Acting on Employee Suggestions Boosts Employee and Customer Engagement
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
In his timeless work How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), Dale Carnegie traces all human motivation to one sensation: feeling important. Quoting American philosopher John Dewey, Carnegie emphasizes “that the deepest urge in human nature is ‘the desire to be important.’” Flash forward to 2009, when the most innovative business leaders are applying Carnegie’s dictum to the workplace through Employee Engagement Management. More than just an “HR buzzword,” Employee Engagement Management is a leadership approach that values each employee’s well being and input, with the understanding that passionate, engaged employees are more productive. This article will explain why gathering and implementing employee suggestions is an effective technique for improving both employee and customer engagement.