Leveraging the Positivity Effect

We've talked about 'The Positivity Effect' in a previous?article. People crave positive experiences and as consumers we are happy to pay more and are a bit more forgiving if everything feels right. Smart businesses take advantage of that psychological doorway. They carefully design the customer experience to trigger positive emotions. Happy customers are usually loyal customers and more likely to act as evangelists too.?

That said, the majority of customer service scripts we are looking at have precise technical and procedural instructions but are rudimentary when it comes to fostering positive emotions. Dear reader, here is a simple challenge for you: Can you exactly state what feelings you want your customers to have about your business and how you reliably create those feelings? If not, you might want to read on because you are throwing away money.?

Positive emotions are good for business, but what kind of positive emotions are there? There is excitement, delight, astonishment and happiness. We can be pleased, content, relaxed and calm. Others are enthusiastic, euphoric, surprised and grateful. And there is more. Positive emotions are manifold and as such are the options to design the customer experience.?

What positive emotions fit your business??

One of our clients makes large scale industrial pumps. They want to delight their customers, please them with a great product and service and are hoping to achieve gratefulness when everything works as planned. Big machinery projects are complex. Astonishment has no place in their world and they'd rather avoid surprises of any kind.?

The financial services industry on the other hand wants their customers to be pleased with the interest rate and the ease of service and they prefer a happy and calm atmosphere. There is not a lot of space for euphoria and excitement when you sign a lease agreement or talk about your credit score.?

Compared to those two, Apple seems to go after all the superlatives: excitement, enthusiasm and surprise. The most used word in Tim Cook's keynote speeches in the mid 2010s was 'new' and everyone who ever watched an Apple product presentation still has that 'we couldn’t be more excited' ringing in their ears.?

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Positive feelings help build the relationship with your customers and it is positive words that help trigger those feelings. But it needs customization. Find the emotions that fit with your product, brand and company culture. Here are somer leading questions: What do you stand for? What you would like to convey? Do you want euphoric customers, exciting sales conversations or just have everyone be happy and calm? The more precise you are in defining the desired positive feelings, the better you can create the scripts that build lasting relationships with your customers.?

You might think that for your business emotions come naturally and maybe they do. But remember: just because you think it's common sense does not mean every one in your company feels the same way. When you have tens or even hundreds of people serving potentially hundreds or thousands of customers each day, they need to have clarity as to how they should make the customer feel and what words to use. What are your words??