Extract 6 of Measuring Customer Emotions
How do feel about the service you received? or how did you feel after our phone call? or before we answered the call, or when you arrived at my website. How did you feel this morning and how do you feel now!
In this extract from Measuring Customer Emotions I want to talk about some basic rules about questioning best practice it is worth reviewing:
1 Channel impacts outcome
If you are face to face - looking into the eyes of our model you are significantly more engaged than via SMS. Does your scoring system make allowances to the way in which customers interact with channels?
2 Common questions get more accurate answers
These are the most common form of asking a question between people. That is an observational certainty. The easier it is to understand a question the better it is!
You have never walked up to a friend or colleague and asked:
"On a scale of 1 - 10 how likely are you to recommend how you felt this morning when you awoke?"
How are you? How did you sleep? or how did you feel when you woke up are much better questions.Where diagnosis is vital the medical principal is to "ask patients about known states in simple language" so they are able to provide more accurate answers. We use this medical best practice in measuring customer emotions. We understand and experience from the customers point of view using a language and conversation structure that reflects normal speech.
Does your scoring system make allowances to the clarity of your questions?
3 Provide an easy framework that customers can understand
Using the most common form of language to ask the simplest form of a question is common sense.
You "e-score" anything from an okay/resting state so it is accurate.
Asking grounded questions increases the customers opportunity to be accurate.
Any point in a customer journey, any moment of truth MUST be looked at in relation to the resting state and the starting state of the experience. If I am phoning to make a claim then my emotional state will be different to if I am booking a restaurant.
4 What's the first rule of comedy? - If you don't know then you should look it up.
5 The goals of modern insight best practice have changed
How I ask you questions, what I do with your answers and how that experience makes you feel are now part of the customers experience and our customer relationship. It therefore follows that emotionally sensitive questions perform better. How do you feel about is one of the most emotionally comforting questions you can ask. It also recognises your importance.
This question provides a behavioural reset that makes you feel slightly better. It's a micro-habit where we reset our view because of the question. The micro-habit is where we take a breath (so to speak) and gather our thoughts and emotions.
Everyone has experienced a moment when someone asking if you are all right has given you that pause for thought......am I ok with this? It is a moment of taking stock where we regain our emotional control. It's not that simple but that's the essence of it.
In summary you have to consider the impact on your reputation and CX of the types of questions you ask.