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PERSPECTIVES:MeasuringEmotioninCustomerExperienceColletteP.Eccleston,PhD&TristinaKeith,MBA

Emotionsarecriticaltocustomerexperience,buttrickytomeasure.Thispaperdiscusseswhatwemeanbyemotion,howwecanmeasureit,andhowthesetoolscanapplyinanoperationalcustomerexperienceframework.

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You’vealmostcertainlyleftastorefeelingthatthe servicewas notwhat you expected. Youmighthavefelt likethesalespersonwasmoreinterested in hearing about their colleague’sweekend,asopposedtohelpingyou.Areyoufeelingangryorunhappy? More importantly,willthesefeelingstranslatetonotshoppingthisstore again? Emotions have an air ofmystery. It is often implied, if not directlystated, that behavior based on emotion is“hot”, irrational, illogical, and that peoplecannotexplainorarticulatehowtheyfeel.Thissituation poses a bit of challenge forcompanies. It’s difficult to use customers’emotionstoinformactionsifthosecustomerscan’t tell you what they’re feeling and arebehaving irrationally. Fortunately, much ofthesebeliefsaboutemotionsaremythsanditis indeed possible to get people to articulatetheirfeelings;therearemeaningfuldiscernablepatterns in the experience of emotions. Byapplyingascientificapproachtoemotion,itispossible to get an understanding of howemotionsoperate,howtomeasurethem,andhowtorespondtocustomerbehaviorbytakingthemintoconsideration.DefiningEmotionInsimplestterms,anemotionisafeelingproducedasaresultofanexperience.Youwalkintoahotelandthefrontdeskclerkgreetsyouwithasmileandacookie,andyougetawarmfuzzyfeelingandthinkyoucouldstaythereforawhile.You'rewalkinginastore,wherethingsarealloutofplaceandsomethingfallsofftheshelf,barelymissingyourhead.Youmakeabee-linetofindamanager.Theseareexamplesofexperiencesthatevokeemotionswhetherthatishappyorrelaxed,troubledorangry.

Atrueunderstandingofwhattheseemotionsmeanforcustomersisessentialtotakingthe

rightaction.Andthisisthebenefitofapplyingascientificapproach;scientificwaysoforganizationandcategorizationdemystifycomplexphenomena.Herearesomewayswecansystematicallycharacterizeemotions.

§ EmotionsvaryinvalenceThisisperhapsthemoststraightforwardaspectofemotions.Theyareeitherpositiveornegative.

§ EmotionsvaryinlevelofconsciousnessAtthelessconsciouslevel,emotionsoccurfairlyquicklyandautomatically.Atthislevel,emotionismostlyaboutvalenceandinvoluntarybehaviors.Whenyouareinthestore,andarenearlyhitbyfallingproduct,youhaveareaction.Yourreactionmayincludeyourheartrateincreasing,openingyoureyeswidely,andhoppingoutoftheway.Atamoreconsciouslevel,emotionsinvolverealization,interpretation,andactingonyourfeelings.

§ EmotionsvaryinlevelsofarousalEmotionsexistacontinuumfromlowarousal(e.g.boredom)tohigharousal(e.g.rage),whichinvolvemoreenergy,movingyoutoaction.

EmotionMeasurementGiventheabove,whatdoesthismeanforthemeasurementofemotion?Aswithotherpsychologicalprocesses,howwemeasureconstructsshouldmatchtheprocess.Atthemostbasiclevelthen,thissuggeststhattocapturethefullrangeofemotionweneedtomeasuresomeautomatic,notentirelyconsciousreactionsaswellasreactionsthatreflectsomethinking..


MeasuringthelessconsciousaspectofemotionThemostwell-knownmeasureoftheautomatic,lessconsciousaspectofemotionisfacialcoding.FacialcodingisbasedlargelyonresearchbyPaulEkman,whichidentifiedfacialexpressionsconsistentwith6basicemotions(i.e.happiness,fear,sadness,anger,surprise,disgust).Thesesixbasicemotionsarethoughttobebiologicallyrooted,andassuchthefacialexpressionsassociatedwiththemareuniversallyexpressedandunderstood.Thereissomedebateabouttheuniversalityoftheseexpressions,andwhethertheseemotionsareconsistentlyexpressedintheseways.(LisaFeldmanBarrett,apsychologistatBostonCollege,haswrittenextensivelyaboutthisissue.Seeforexample,FeldmanBarrett,2006).Despitethedebate,clearlyemotionis,tosomeextent,expressedinfacialexpressions.Althoughtheremaybeinstanceswherewearehappybutdonotsmile,orwhereasmileisanindicatorofembarrassmentratherthanhappiness,facialexpressionandthusfacialcodingprovidessomeinformationaboutaperson’semotionalstate.

Withthatsaid,facialcodinggetsataspectsofemotionthatarebasic.Thatisfacialcodingwillnotbesufficienttodistinguishbetweenmorenuancedemotionslikeinspirationandsatisfaction.Furthermore,intherealworld,facialexpressionsofemotionareoftensubtleandfleeting.(Thisisespeciallytrueinresearch,wherethestimuliweexposepeopletoisgenerallynotmindblowingorlifethreateningandthustherangeofemotionisfairlynarrow.)Thus,capturingbasicemotionsasexpressedontheface,requireseitherapersonwithexpertiseincodinghumanfacesoranautomatedprogram.

Thoughitispossiblethatthelessconsciousaspectsofemotionmaybecapturedwithothertypesofphysicalmeasurements,suchaspsychophysiology(e.g.heartrate,skinconductance)andneuroimaging,thistypeofresearchhasnotyetbeenabletoclearlyandconsistentlydistinguishbetweendifferentemotions.

MeasuringthelessconsciousaspectofemotionThemoreconsciousaspectsofemotionasubjectiveexperience,subjecttointerpretation,evaluation,labelingandrevision.Weperceiveourownemotionsinawaythatisnotentirelydissimilarfromthewaywedecidethatapersonisajerk.Thatis,wetakeintoconsiderationthegeneralfeelingofgoodversusbad,whatweknowaboutwhatdifferentemotionslookslike,whentheyarelikelytooccur,thecontext,andweinferouremotion.Intheexampleaboveofavoidinganearmisswithafallingobject,theemotionofreliefcomesfromthenegativefeeling,ourunderstandingofwhateventsjusttookplace,knowingatsomelevelthatasighandthinkingaboutanalternativeoutcomethatismuchworseareallsignsofrelief.Ofcourse,figuringthatouthappensveryquickly,butitdoestakesomeconsciousawareness.

Thus,ifwearetomeasureemotionslikeexcited,nervous,relaxedandstressed,weneedameasurethatrequiresindividualstodirectlyreportontheiremotionstate.Asdiscussedabove,beyondpositiveandnegative,emotionsvaryonarousal.Andthecombinationofvalenceandarousalismoremeaningfulthanconsideringeitherinisolation.Forexample,worryandunhappiness,arebothnegativelyvalencedbutdifferintheirlevelsofarousal.Thisdifference


inlevelsofarousalhasimplicationsforhowcustomersthinkandarelikelytobehaveasafunctionoftheiremotions.

ApplyingemotiontoOperationalCustomerExperienceManagementEmotioncanbecomeapowerfulinputintoactionsthatcompaniescantakearoundcustomerexperience.Belowareafewspecificapplications:

§ Impactinghowcompaniesclosetheloop.Companiescanadapthowtheyclosetheloopbyleveragingemotions.Focusingonemotionsishelpfulinprioritizingproblemsandtakingtherightactions.Forexample,foracustomerwhoreportsbeingextremelyworried,isexperiencinghighlevelsofarousalandlikelywouldbenefitfromquickactionthatminimizesthatnegativeenergy.Ontheotherhand,acustomerwhoreportsbeingextremelyunhappy,becausetheyarelessaroused,maynotneedimmediateaction.

§ Segmentingcustomerdatabyemotions.Segmentingcustomerexperiencedatabyemotioncanbehelpfulforunderstandingwhatsituationsevokecertainemotionsandtheirimpactonsatisfaction.Emotionsmayalsoprovideidevaluableinsighttounderstandingkeycustomerprofiles.Whichofyourconsumersegmentsarepronetonegativeemotionsthatwillrequireefforttoaddress?Whoareyourconsumerswhocanbeinspiredbysimpleactionsandwhowillthereforespreadthewordaboutyou?

§ Combineemotionswithkeymetricstomorestronglypredictoutcomevariables.Theemotionalconstructcombinedwithkeymetricscouldincreasepredictivepower,enablingbetterinsightintokeybehaviorssuchasreviewwriting,recommendations,andreturnvisits.

ForMoreInformation:ColletteEccleston–[email protected]–[email protected]