Immersing your existing customers in a satisfying shopping experience produces innumerable benefits. Some of these include:

• Engaged customers make 44% more yearly visits to preferred retailers¹
• It is five times easier to upsell or cross-sell to current vs. new customers²
• Customers stick to brands that provide an excellent shopping experience³
• One happy customer, on average, provides nine positive store referrals⁴
• Customers will gladly pay more for an excellent retail experience⁵

The key to achieving these and many other advantages comes from engaging customers on an emotional level.

People Decide via Emotion

The vast majority of everyday decisions are made emotionally not logically. The work of Antonio Damasio, the founder of the USC Brain and Creativity Institute*, revealed that people lacking emotions, due to surgery or another medical condition, could process information as well as anyone else but were unable to make even simple decisions without severe difficulty.

Connecting Emotionally to Customers

Given that people are emotional by nature, which emotions, positive or negative, are most impactful in customers' shopping and buying decisions? These seven emotion-based motivations are common:

• Anxious to finish – customers craving a streamlined selection and buying process
• Anxiety over too many decisions – customers overwhelmed by a broad selection of options
• Worried about making a mistake – customers seeking trusted information sources to avoid buyer's remorse
• Seeking validation – customers driven by others' opinions about a product
• Want some fun – customers for whom shopping is an enjoyable pastime
• Have to be first – customers looking for things to raise their social status
• Need to be pampered – these customers are equally interested in red carpet treatment as the product itself

The customer experience must transform these or other emotions into the most relevant emotion for your store, which is a feeling of satisfaction. Satisfaction is the number one word customers use when they receive a great customer experience.

Target Your Store's CX

There is no single way to create a great customer experience (CX). A proven approach is to narrow your target audience according to two or three key emotions that play off your store's current strengths.

For example, if your store has on-floor checkout, this appeals to the "Get It Done Quick" customer, whereas knowledgeable, expert sales associates appeal to those customers worried about making a mistake as well as those seeking validation for their purchase.

Next, choose meaningful metrics to measure satisfaction that are quantifiable but as non-intrusive as possible to the shopper's visit to your store. If shopper participation is required, consider rewarding them with discounts or other incentives.

Keep in mind that it is easier to detect signs of satisfaction than dissatisfaction. A consistent theme across customer research shows that businesses typically only hear from a single-digit percentage of unhappy customers.

Sales Team Impact on CX

In your quest for superior CX, include your sales associates in the process. Empower them with the tools and education necessary for superb customer experiences and to ensure their job satisfaction. Disengaged, unhappy employees will, inadvertently, disrupt your CX improvement efforts.

Creating emotional connections to your customers is undermined if one critical ingredient is missing. The sales team must practice empathy. If they can place themselves in the customer's shoes, they have travelled more than halfway to providing a satisfying customer experience likely to be shared with others.

Detailed and accurate sales associate knowledge is also essential to superior CX. The Intel® Retail Edge Program provides just that. Sales associates learn about the latest Intel® products and technologies through interactive and engaging Learning activities. By participating in the Intel® Retail Edge Program, your sales associates can build an emotional connection with their customers by delivering excellent customer experiences.

This article has been updated for accuracy and freshness. It originally appeared here on LinkedIn*.

References:

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

©Intel Corporation 2018. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Retail Edge Program, and Intel Retail Edge Live are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

1 https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/

2 https://www.invespcro.com/blog/customer-acquisition-retention/

3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/

4 http://typeacommunications.com/97-customer-experience-stats-marketers-need-know/