Customer Engagement

How Using Emotional Intelligence Enhances the Customer Experience

This is a given. Having emotionally intelligent employees will help any organization dive into the great divide of providing a spectacular customer experience, at any given point in time. Are you aware that 90% of top performers in various businesses have ‘Emotional Intelligence’ in common? Their levels of self-awareness and self-management get them ahead and may even outrank their colleagues who have elevated levels of IQ – because IQ is simply not enough – when trying to satisfy your end customers. Now you must wonder what ‘Emotional Intelligence’ really is. It is simply the ability for an individual to recognize their own emotion alongside other people’s emotions, distinguish between different feelings and label them correctly, use emotional information to guide their thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve their goals. In the business world, high EQ levels in leaders will certainly foster stronger emotional connections with employees. But, do keep in mind that it’s also important to encourage your employees to utilize an EQ approach in their day-to-day responsibilities, especially, in terms of nurturing meaningful customer experiences to increase brand loyalty and to increase your customer base – because you can never get enough of an increasing, loyal army of followers. Emotional Intelligence is for Everyone EQ is for everyone – starting from your front-line managers to your front-line executives. There is no difference there. If you look at your front-line customer executives, they have to deal with various customers who are indifferent, hostile and simply difficult and it can be a nightmare for them. And it is obvious that situations of this nature can wear out these executives down, reduce a positive attitude towards their work and result in low levels of employee engagement. You wouldn’t want that, now would you? When […]

What is the Voice of the Customer (VoC)?

A customer walks into a restaurant chain branch, she orders her usual tuna sandwich as she does every other day. Since she is a frequent visitor, there shouldn’t be any surprises during this specific experience. But there is a difference, she is in a restaurant branch which she hasn’t visited before. She receives her sandwich and settles down in one of the booths. Her first bite is the decision maker. Immediately her taste buds tell her that something is not right. The bread is stale, the filling is all wrong. She’s pissed. Naturally, the initial reaction is to complain – so she turns to Social Media. Two days later, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the restaurant chain in question gets a call from his wife who tells him about a Facebook post which went viral (over 500 shares) and has now reached news publications as well. The restaurant chain’s brand image is compromised. Any strategic move by the CEO and his company will cause the PR situation to worsen – more fuel to the fire. “If only I could have known that she was unhappy two days ago, I could have apologized and made amends,” says the CEO. Let’s look at this situation with the introduction of Emojot. The customer is unhappy. She sees a card on the table where she is sitting saying “Tell us how you feel”. She’s intrigued and visits the link. With the ability to immediately express how she feels – her negative sentiments are received through the restaurant’s Emotion Sensor®. Immediately, the CEO and the CXO (Chief Experience Officer) of the restaurant chain are alerted via WhatsApp and Email – they view the analytics on the cloud-based dashboard and acknowledges: the problem with the quality of the sandwich (as the customer has given open […]