6 Ways Emotional Intelligence Can Make a Positive User Experience
Improving Customer Satisfaction and Experience through Customer Success Management
Emotional Intelligence: What is it?
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions and those of others. It includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, which makes it very different from IQ in that it focuses on our emotional lives rather than cognitive ability.
In our personal lives, it enables us to better empathize with other people and recognize their feelings and behaviors. Through this, we can understand how we feel and how other people feel, leading to a greater awareness of our environment and the relationships between different individuals or groups.
In businesses, Emotional Intelligence plays a key role in creating positive customer experiences as it helps businesses to better identify, interpret, and respond to how customers feel. A survey by Oracle found that 69% of customers said their expectations were exceeded when dealing with an emotionally intelligent support team member, compared to 44% who experienced the same satisfaction level with an unemotional response. This demonstrates how important it is for companies to ensure their Customer Success Managers possess strong emotional intelligence skills to provide a positive experience for every customer interaction, an essential role of Customer Success Managers.
Role of Emotional Intelligence in Customer Success Management
Understanding the customers’ emotions is like having an eye for an opportunity. It equips Customer Success Managers with the ability to determine how best to interact with customers’ products and services in a way that drives both customer satisfaction and revenue growth. It is, then, an invaluable tool that can be used to enhance the user experience and, ultimately, Customer Success. Emotional Intelligence, coupled with a CSM’s knowledge and skills, enables them to identify how customers are feeling, why they may be having those feelings, and how to help the customer achieve their expected outcomes.
The benefits of EI extend beyond just empathizing with customers; when used properly, it can help increase customer loyalty by creating strong relationships between company representatives and customers based on trust, respect, and understanding. Customers want personalized experiences when interacting with companies; emotionally intelligent Customer Success Managers are best positioned to provide them with exactly what they want and create memorable interactions that keep them coming back for more products or services in the future.
Utilizing Emotional Intelligence in Customer Success Management
1. Understanding customer needs
Customer Success Managers who are equipped with emotional intelligence skills are better able to identify what their customers need and how best to meet these needs. They can better understand customers’ emotions, motivations, and perspectives which helps them create tailored solutions for the customer based on their individual needs. This is especially important when dealing with dissatisfied customers; understanding why they may be feeling a certain way allows Customer Success Managers to offer appropriate solutions that show customers that their concerns have been heard and addressed. A simple example wherein Emotional Intelligence played a great role in improving Customer Satisfaction is the move from Sephora, which gained the attention of many for providing color-coded baskets* to customers, identifying those who prefer to shop alone, and allowing the customers to shop in comfort.
2. Developing empathetic relationships
Customer Success Managers must build strong relationships with their customers to ensure retention, loyalty, and revenue growth over time. By leveraging emotional intelligence, they can better understand customer perspectives while creating relationships based on trust, respect, empathy, and understanding – all of which help foster loyalty between the company and its clients. This is particularly beneficial when dealing with dissatisfied or angry customers; identifying underlying causes of dissatisfaction and responding empathetically can help win back lost customers and prevent future churn by keeping them loyal over time.
3. Identifying customer sentiment
Utilizing EI enables Customer Success Managers to recognize how a particular customer feels about a product or service from the very first contact. This helps managers keep track of key metrics such as customer satisfaction ratings as well as anticipate any potential issues before they arise; this is critical for preventing churn because it allows companies to take proactive measures to address customer concerns before they become major problems that result in lost revenue or bad reviews. Studies show that even a 1% increase in retention rate can lead to a 10-30% increase in total profits over a year; having an emotionally intelligent Customer Success Manager ensures companies realize this potential for increased profitability through improved customer sentiment tracking and forecasting capabilities.
4. Increasing productivity
Emotional Intelligence provides benefits in terms of understanding customer needs and drives improved productivity amongst employees due to its ability to reduce stress levels whilst boosting morale among colleagues, leading to greater job satisfaction overall. Having high EI within teams leads to smoother decision-making processes; enhanced creativity; increased trust amongst members; improved communication; more efficient teamwork; and overall higher quality work output resulting in tangible benefits for the company in terms of revenues realized from satisfied customers who enjoy positive user experiences.
5. Improving customer service experience
Using EI also helps improve the overall customer service experience by enabling Customer Success Managers quickly identify questions that require immediate attention as opposed to those which require more complex solutions. This helps ensure inquiries are handled efficiently without any unnecessary delays while also providing opportunities for additional outreach if needed (i.e., contacting external experts), thereby increasing chances of identifying resolutions quickly and leading to higher satisfaction levels amongst users. Additionally, utilizing EI ensures conversations remain polite yet firm, so both parties have a pleasant interaction regardless of the outcome, thereby improving the user experience.
6. Enhancing problem-solving skills
Having strong emotional intelligence enables Customer Success Managers to solve problems from multiple angles since it allows them to empathize with different perspectives, thereby giving them insights into possible solutions beyond surface-level issues. This kind of problem-solving proficiency increases chances for the successful resolution of complex problems, thus allowing companies to capitalize on potential opportunities presented therein. Additionally, it reduces employee conflict due to its ability to de-escalate situations calmly; having an emotionally intelligent team member helping solve complicated problems reinforces a sense of unity amongst colleagues, further increasing job satisfaction.
Summary,
Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been proven to be a powerful tool in Customer Success Management. Research from Gartner showed that businesses that use emotional intelligence-driven customer service strategies saw an increase in revenue growth by up to 20%. This indicates that not only does implementing EI strategies lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, but it can also positively impact the bottom line.
Furthermore, Microsoft Dynamics revealed that 63% of customers were more likely to recommend a company if they had a positive experience with an emotionally intelligent representative or team member. The same study also found that businesses that successfully integrated EI into their customer service strategy experienced growth in both average order value (AOV), transaction size, and lifetime value (LTV).
The evidence speaks for itself: Emotional Intelligence is essential when it comes to providing successful customer experiences and implementing effective Customer Success Management practices. Not only can emotionally intelligent Customer Success Managers create stronger relationships with customers based on trust and understanding, but they are also more likely to drive revenue growth through increased AOV, transaction size, and LTV. Ultimately, investing in developing emotionally intelligent Customer Success Managers will help achieve Customer Success – driving customer retention and revenue growth.
For those seeking to build a career in Customer Success, emotional intelligence is definitely a must-have skill set. To obtain the necessary skills, online courses and certifications are available that cover the fundamentals of Customer Success Management and the application of Emotional Intelligence within the field. With this knowledge and experience under your belt, you can ensure that each customer interaction is effective and meaningful – ultimately providing customers with an experience that drives customer retention.
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References
Gartner. (n.d.). Emotional intelligence-driven customer service strategies increase revenue growth by up to 20%. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3979020
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Team. (2020). The power of emotional intelligence in customer service and success [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/the-power-of-emotional-intelligence-in-customer-service/.
Oracle Service Cloud Research Team & Oracle Service Cloud Product Marketing Team. (2016). 2016 global customer service barometer [Report]. Retrieved from http://www2.oracleimgs//ocom_images//content//pdfs//global_customer_service_barometer_2016_naa7f8b6c3a1e4f9db5fffc0ceaa07817ebb_.pdf.
