The retail banking market has shown tremendous growth leading to competition for bigger share. To make it to the top, many banks see customer experience as a competitive advantage, which will help them increase the number of loyal customers. Professionals use software based solutions and measurement systems to do this but they leave behind one important thing, which is market research based on emotion.

Let’s discuss why considering customer’s emotions is important for banks to improve customer experience. But first why don’t you go through these two short reads about business financial tech solutions and the future of business software development.  

Don’t Always Listen to the Customer

A professor from Harvard Business School says that most of the buying decisions that customers make are taken subconsciously. They later start rationalizing them. That’s why when they talk about what they need from your bank their responses are influenced by the rational thoughts. Most of the customers only mention the things that they really need and not what they want ignoring their emotions. 

Customer Loyalty and Deep Emotion

Successful companies have realized the power of emotions and connect with their customers on emotional level. The famous brands win the hearts of their customers by helping them reveal their hidden emotional motives. It may be freedom, standing out in the crowd or a sense of belonging. 

For example, the company Cottonelle Kleenex gained millions of loyal customers and worldwide popularity thanks to their marketing trick of using cute Labrador puppies. It evoked happiness among people and succeeded in making them pay attention to their product. 

Importance of Studying Emotions for Banks

Many banks are still trying to increase the number of their loyal customers by offering high saving rates but it won’t work for long. Because the newer generations already believe that their bank cannot offer them anything new or different from others. There are well known brands that have started studying the emotions and motives which shape customer behavior. 

Banks should not only look at increasing their deposits but should also work towards improving their long term relationship with their customers because feelings can pay off much better than numbers. By building an emotional connection with the customers, you are becoming a partner rather than a place they use to keep their money. To really become a part of the customer’s life, the banks should forge a deep emotional relationship with them and not just offer various loyalty programs. 

By ignoring emotions altogether banks risk getting incorrect insight about customers’ needs and wants and thus making a marketing strategy which won’t work for them. This can have many consequences but the obvious one would be your customers turning to your competitor with better offers. You can definitely avoid this by using technology. 

How to Recognize Customers’ Emotions

In order to identify the emotion which triggers the buying decision, you need to start collecting data related to a specific customer segment. Banks can either rely on customer experience surveys or use software technologies that recognize emotions. 

Once you’re done with the data gathering, you need to analyze and systemize the emotion data. You can identify the most valuable emotion by using data analysis software. Banks can then use this emotion and come up with customer communications based on it. 

Final Words

We may all speak different languages but emotions are a universal language that everyone understands and is a great way to connect with your customers. To achieve meaningful results with customer experience, banks should put to use the image recognition software and big data analytics. They should conduct an in-depth analysis of customers’ emotions and make use of the results in their strategy.