This is part 5 of the measuring customer emotions series. In the previous extracts we looked at all of the other groups this is our final one. This is a state of being. This is the moment when you see your beloved in her wedding gown the first steps of an infant and the moment you lose control of your temper.
THIS IS PASSION
I am beyond angry beyond love because I am in a state of passion. Your product or service has touched my life so much I am in a state of rapture
Group 5 - Out of Control
Driven by this feeling
There are several cases where out of control has had an impact on the reputation and bottom line of organisations. I think when you get to the point where you are told to stop killing dogs and beating up pensioners you are in 5 territory.....and not the good kind. The good kind happens in some industries as day to day deliverables. For Life experience industry Wedding Venues, Hospitals, Funerals etc dealing with customers with life changing events is routine.
Characteristics/ Behaviours
"MORE THAN"
A heightened state of love or hate with everything that entails
A 5 emotional state is one that is now actively being driven by that feeling to exclusion of common sense or other drivers.
Customers may move to -5 or +5 but cannot sustain this.
An unstable transitional state.
+5s are ‘passionate advocates NOW’:
-5s are ‘passionate antagonists NOW’.
Both states are characterised as highly active and temporarily consuming. This is the triumph of emotion over logic and can be demonstrated through laughter and tears.
Risks
Both states present a level of ‘cognitive dissonance’.
High level of empathy required to manage either extreme
The risk and impact of losing a +5 is significantly higher. However, the output of customer work possible in this state is very powerful and attractive to people in more passive states.
The negative state inherently carries the risk of a social media nightmare, because in general people are empathetic and will respond to active distress.
Action
The effort and empathy required to alter a -5 may be too great/costly.
-5s can be turned around, sometimes with startlingly positive results.
A heightened state of awareness and an ability to react quickly to changes in state should be considered vital.
Most organisations have some kind of crash programme to deal with customers whose lives they have just ruined but I have seen few good ones. Ironically it's the good ones that deal generously with their customers that cost less to run.
NOTE - Your organisation probably doesn't do this a lot so look at best practice in places where it is routine.
You now have 11 types of emotional states - in the next in the series we will look at traps to avoid.
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