As a retailer, it’s not always easy to know what customers want or how to provide them with an overwhelmingly positive experience. Unfortunately, if you want to enjoy long-term success, you have to try and you have to hit the mark more often than not. This means finding ways to understand the customer experience, empathize with consumers to target pain points, and ultimately, create a positive emotional bond to ensure ongoing patronage.

Although most retailers realize the importance of the customer experience, it turns out that 63% of shoppers feel like retailers don’t know them, and only 1% believe that vendors consistently meet expectations. This is a major problem that speaks to a disconnect between the experience retailers provide and the takeaway with which customers are left. If customers harbor the perception that retailers don’t care and don’t “get it,” it really doesn’t matter how hard a brand is trying to deliver a stellar experience.

What can you do to better understand your customers and deliver a consistent and rewarding experience? How can you show your brand cares and encourage brand loyalty in the process? You first need to understand the emotional experience consumers have regarding your brand so you can determine the best ways to build lasting relationships.

Start with the Peak-End Rule

Daniel Kahneman, a Noble-prize winning psychologist, came up with the peak-end rule, which basically posits that our memory of an experience becomes focused on the emotions we feel at the end, regardless of how positive or negative the overall experience was. From a retail standpoint, this means that you could do everything right, but a negative end to the interaction could essentially ruin the overall experience for shoppers.

For example, suppose a shopper is browsing in your store. S/he likes your products and pricing, encounters ample options to personalize the experience, and finds your brand generally superior to competitors. S/he decides to make a purchase, but encounters a long line and a surly, overwhelmed employee at the checkout. This ending to an otherwise positive experience could tinge the overall interaction and create a lasting, negative impression in the shopper’s mind.

The flip side of this is that a positive ending can turn a negative experience around. If a shopper encounters a disorganized layout and can’t find the item s/he is seeking, the experience could easily fall into the negative column. A caring and helpful sales associate, however, who orders the right item and has it sent to the shopper at no expense for shipping, and even offers a slight discount for the inconvenience, can create a lasting impression based on positive emotions like pleasant surprise and gratitude. This can make all the difference.

Prioritize Core Values for Branding

What do customers connect with? It’s not your products—they can find similar items from competitors. It’s not even your brand image or lifestyle marketing, although these can certainly make a good first impression. In the long run, what customers really connect with is consistent, core values.

When your core values revolve around providing quality products, significant value, attractive retail settings, and above all else, exceptional customer service, consumers will know what to expect from your brand. By training employees to empathize with consumers and internalize their experience, you can turn even negative experiences into positive ones, cementing patronage by exceeding expectations.

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