Pushing the Delight Button
Emotion theories have shown that delight and satisfaction are not the same feelings. (Oliver 1997)
The emotion of delight has been demonstrated to produce higher levels of arousal than satisfaction, which can be leveraged to increase customer engagement and buying.
Every week, lululemon stores and showrooms push their product racks aside and unroll yoga mats, turning their spaces into instant yoga studios. The classes are complimentary and lead by instructors from the local area. Perhaps it is a simple technique to get foot traffic into the store, but at the same time it increases delight and cheerfulness around the brand as many women show up in their lululemon attire.
So what are you doing to drive delight and excitement through innovation? Delighting customers improves word of mouth and repurchase intent more than merely satisfying them. New products need this type of emotional energy around them as they enter the marketplace.
Spend some time thinking about what makes your customers happy and delight them by offering something that links to it. In lululemon’s example, they are not offering anything more than any other retailer could do, except other retailers don’t.
image credit: Janeshealth & itsallyogababy
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Donna Sturgess is the President and Co-founder of Buyology Inc and former Global Head of Innovation for GlaxoSmithKline. Her latest book is Eyeballs Out: How To Step Into Another World, Discover New Ideas, and Make Your Business Thrive
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Hi Donna
100% agree with you! I blogged something on these lines a while back (https://interacter.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/surprise-and-delight/ if you’re interested).
As a personal experience, I’m a member of loyalty schemes for two different stores. One gives me vouchers on a regular basis. The other sends me discount coupons regularly, but every so often, something else drops through the door. It might be a money off coupon, or a voucher for a free sample.
I don’t expect these irregular offerings, but they sure delight me. On the flip side of the coin, I do expect the regular voucher delivery – and get grumpy if it’s late!
Just another example of how companies keep delighting their customers!
Neil