Have you hired a CMO yet?
I’m not talking about a Chief Marketing Officer, though.
There’s a new CMO in town and he/she might have the most vital role in your entire organization.
I’m talking about your Chief Memory Officer.
It’s not the customer experience that brings a customer back again and again, and it’s not the experience that makes them want to talk about your organization, or what makes them more “loyal” to your company.
Instead, it’s the memory of the experience.
Noble Prize winner Daniel Kahneman shares many fascinating insights about this in his book Thinking, Fast & Slow, and his TED talk you can view HERE. He says people have an “experiencing self” and a “remembering self.” You’re experiencing things in the moment, but your memories are what are most important when it comes to making decisions.
When it comes to the customer experience, there are two main points to be especially mindful of:
How They Start, and How They End.
Before a customer becomes a customer your sales and marketing should be focused on all the great experiences to come, especially those with trophy value (Remember The Bentley and The Butler).
People anticipate the experience to come. They anticipate your product or service alleviating some sort of pain, solving some pressing issue, or providing some great value and benefit to their lives.
We also want to be mindful of the way they customer experience ends. Kahneman shares an example from a study on colonoscopies. Science shows us that how an experience ends can drastically impact the memory of the entire experience! Even the memory of an incredible two-week vacation could be ruined by a poor experience on the last day!
Finally, after the sale, all your ongoing sales and marketing efforts should be focused on reminding them of the best parts of their experience, and bringing all those favourite memories back to the top of their minds.
Today’s Thinking Point: Are you paying enough attention to how your customer’s experience starts, and how it ends?
