Fueling Growth Through Moments of Customer Delight

SØREN’S NOTE

In most industries, competition is fierce. Customers have a lot of options to choose from, and it often requires extra effort to gain their loyalty. One of my favourite articles of the year describes how customer delight leads to loyalty, repeat buying and more referrals. Read the 1 Minute Summary to learn how to create moments of delight and read the full article by McKinsey for examples and a deeper dive into the research.

IN BRIEF
Delight can be defined as the sweet spot between joy and surprise, creating a strong emotional reaction. It’s important to note that delight is different from satisfaction, as it is something that happens beyond this state to drive unexpected joy. Here’s how to elevate customer experience through delight.

KEY FINDINGS

• How delight leads to loyalty. Being able to delight customers can help drive revenue, retention and referrals, all of which can result in loyalty. Studies clearly show the positive impact on these three areas when customers are delighted. Those who experience delight are much more inclined to recommend the brand, boosting referrals and loyalty. Delight also improves retention, as it encourages people to use products or services again. Lastly, revenue is driven by satisfied and delighted customers, as they’re more likely to buy additional products and less likely to change or downgrade if prices rise.

• The two key drivers of delight. The first of these is service excellence. Research also shows that kind human interactions can result in customer delight, which is becoming increasingly important given the rise in digital interactions. Organisations can concentrate on building an environment where personal interactions with customers are encouraged, fostering greater authenticity. Product innovation is another driver of delight, particularly when the innovations appeal to multiple senses at once. Novel features and personalised gestures of appreciation can also help organisations differentiate themselves. Scaled gifting can be expensive, but selective use with high-value customers can be effective.

THE BOTTOM LINE
There are three ways to drive value from delighting customers. The first is to accurately measure delight and the value it creates to uncover areas with the highest return on investment. The second is to adopt a design methodology that is geared towards creating moments of delight for customers. Finally, leveraging data and AI to provide tailored micro-interventions can be used to maximise lifetime customer value.

Based on an article by Ankit Bisht, Sangeeth Ram, Kashiff Munawar and Andreas Giese
Published by McKinsey & Company