As human beings we are flawed though mostly unaware of it. We see ourselves as children of The Enlightenment; educated, measured, refined, reasoned; our every decision rationally made with all options objectively considered. We are, supposedly, creatures of higher thought, far removed from the cave dwellers of which we’re descended.
The Intuitive Customer quickly relieves us of this delusion, presenting a notion which may feel familiar to some: All our decisions are emotionally driven, though justified afterwards to ourselves and others with faux reason. The initial triggers may be positive - trust, joy and surprise or negative - fear, anger or sadness. In contrast, the post-decision justification is often a thinly veiled deception. Whilst this is rather depressing from a personal perspective, it offers interesting commercial opportunities.
From this premise, Shaw and Hamilton distil seven imperatives to move customer experience to the next level – essentially a how-to guide to exploit a fundamental human weakness for commercial gain. Putting aside any moral reservations, it’s a brilliant work which sets out the seven steps and proceeds to explain them in detail:
- Customers decide emotionally and justify rationally
- Embrace customers’ irrationality
- Customers’ minds can be in conflict with themselves
- Understand & predict customer habits and behaviours
- Find hidden causes of customers wanting an easy life
- Accept that irrelevant aspects of Customer Experience can be the most important
- Only customer memories build customer loyalty
Each step is illustrated with both academic research and practical anecdotes. Of the latter, my favourite was the story of Disney theme parks in which customer surveys revealed that salad was the top choice on restaurant menus. Whilst reason dictates that Disney should stock salad above all other options, they don’t. Disney know that, on site, customers will actually choose hot dogs and burgers – the self-justification being “Salads are great, but I ordered a hot dog because I’m on vacation and deserve a treat!”. The Intuitive Customer will help marketers to truly understand this fundamental human flaw and develop a customer experience that drives long term loyalty for sustained business growth. How very rational!