Is your firm using emotional connections in CX?

A study in the Harvard Business Review found that emotionally connected customers are twice as valuable to businesses. The reasons? They’re more likely to repurchase goods and services, tell others of their positive experiences and feel a sense of ‘belonging’ to a brand.

Most sales reps are failing to make emotional connections

When companies make emotional connections with customers the payoff is often huge. Yet research by NewVoiceMedia, a Vonage company, reveals that 65 percent of sales reps felt like they failed to make an emotional connection with most of their prospects in the previous year. More worryingly, only 4 percent felt like they made a deep connection with at least nine out of every 10 prospects they spoke to.

65 percent of sales reps felt like they failed to make an emotional connection with most of their prospects in the previous year

So, what can your business do to build the emotional connections that will help it stand out and thrive in a crowded market?

Use positive emotions to create customer experience differentiation

Despite millions of years of evolution, humans have not yet developed into fully rational beings. Whether we like it or not, every decision we make is influenced by a fusion of both conscious and unconscious feelings.

In the buying decision process, positive emotions build customer trust whilst also increasing mental comprehension and openness to new ideas. In contrast, the customers who experience frustration, anger and anxiety are the ones most likely to switch to a competitor.

Either way you look at it, customer experience is emotionally charged. As a result, making sure your company cares will help you gain a competitive advantage against businesses delivering an experience that sits at the wrong end of the positive-negative spectrum.

Omnichannel is key to winning your customers’ affection

Today’s ultra-connected customers expect a consistent experience across every channel, and giving them what they want pays off. A study by Aberdeen Group found that companies with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to just 33% for those with the weakest.

From messaging apps to phone calls, customers demand consistency and hate repeating information they have already provided when moving between channels. Delivering an omnichannel experience that links customer service channels, while carrying over context from previous interactions, will therefore increase feelings of connectedness that improve loyalty and satisfaction.

Companies with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers

Machine and human minds can work together to improve customer experience

Although AI-powered customer service technology like chatbots now help to resolve customer issues more efficiently, they are not yet able to respond in a manner not hard wired into their code. However, AI can capture and predict the intent of chatbot-based conversations, helping to escalate problems that require the emotional intelligence self-service cannot provide.

Once escalated, AI helps to match a customer with the right rep, instead of just the one that’s next available. Integrated with machine learning capabilities, cloud contact centre technology integrated can access your business’s data set, aligning the needs of your customer with a rep’s unique expertise.

Using predictive analytics, machine minds can also route customers based on their unique query, past purchase history and other variables that help deliver a more personalised experience. 

Cloud contact centre unlocks the power to make every conversation great

When sharing thoughts and seeking help, the contact centre is at the forefront of building deeper relationships. Thus, cloud software, when tightly integrated with your CRM platform, can provide the missing link that enables more emotionally satisfying customer conversations.

For instance, cloud contact centre software allows customers to switch between channels seamlessly, carrying context from all previous interactions. When they pick up the phone, this eliminates all hurdles that lead to a breakdown in customer relations, leaving reps to concentrate on what they do best, building better relationships.

For more information on unlocking the value of emotive customer experiences and making every conversation great, download NewVoiceMedia’s whitepaper, ‘Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Customer Emotion When Making a Sale’.