A hidden impact exists regarding your experience management return on investment (ROI). It is often overlooked because it lurks between a specific moment in a customer process and the behavior resulting from it. However, uncovering and understanding this hidden impact is critical for comprehending its implications on the bottom line.

Emily Davidson wanted to know how to determine the value of her Customer Experience initiatives, a challenge many in the field face. So, she asked us—and we were glad to tell her. What Emily needs is the insight provided by our Emotional Signature research.

The Emotional Signature was developed years ago in collaboration with the London Business School. It resulted from millions of questions posed to thousands of business professionals across hundreds of countries, leading to the identification of the Emotional Signature®.

The Emotional Signature gauges how experiences make individuals feel and how those emotions correlate with the value assigned to the experience. For instance, an experience infused with friction and frustration might yield an Emotional Signature that disappoints customers, resulting in undesirable behavioral outcomes. Conversely, positive emotional connections can enhance outcomes.

Emotions drive customer behavior, influencing actions beyond what survey responses might indicate. A case in point is how Disney Theme Parks discerned that guests, when surveyed, requested salads, but their behavior demonstrated a preference for junk food. This discrepancy showcases the nuanced nature of customer desires and the importance of understanding the specific feelings driving behavior.

In this episode, we explain to Emily and our other listeners how the Emotional Signature Research provides a data-driven approach to understanding the intricate relationship between emotions, customer behavior, and organizational values. While optional for those already convinced of the emotional impact on customer behavior, it is a powerful tool for skeptics requiring tangible evidence before investing resources in experience improvements.

In this episode, you will discover the following:

• The key to measuring emotional impacts on ROI is how organizations often don't even know when you ask them and how you can figure it out for your organization.

• The twenty emotions, ranging from joy to frustration, that drive or destroy value for organizations.

• Why granularity about customer emotions is crucial, and why the ubiquitous oversimplification of emotions as positive or negative won't work.

• A basic explanation of Structural Equation Modeling, a widely accessible statistical technique, and who to assign it to on your team (hint: it's the one who is best with numbers).

• How sorting through what customers say they want but don't drive value and what customers don't say they want but do is crucial for making informed decisions that impact the bottom line positively.