At first glance, we may view these experiences as quick, forgettable interactions. But in each case, there’s actually a bigger opportunity to make these connections with our brand more memorable.  

Emotion plays a key role in all of this – it’s the binding agent that can make nearly any experience memorable. For people everywhere, the majority of our everyday decisions are driven at least in part by emotion. And for better or worse, we actually tend to retain more information about an experience when there’s an emotional component to it. On the flip side, experiences lacking emotion are usually more forgettable.  

It’s all too easy for companies to sanitize processes and digital experiences to the point where they completely lose the human element. This lack of emotion can translate to decreased customer loyalty, satisfaction, engagement and retention.   

If we’re going to build lasting relationships based on extraordinary care and trust, how do we infuse more emotion into our business processes and digital experiences? Good news: the answer isn’t just simple, it’s also easy to implement. Here are a few rules to follow when introducing emotion into any experience: 

Convey the right emotion 

Be authentic, and make sure to convey an emotion that matches the customer’s experience. Paying a bill? Celebrate with them that they’re protected. Filing a claim? Dispel their worries and doubts. Onboarding to Nationwide as a new member? Welcome them aboard! 

Keep it short 

It doesn’t take many words to express emotion effectively – just a sentence or two will do. Inserting emotion shouldn’t come at the expense of keeping the experience effortless.  

Crescendo the experience  

Place the emotional message (maybe even an animation?) at the final stage of the journey. Did you know? People are more likely to forgive and forget multiple issues throughout an experience if their journey ends on a high emotional note.  

Get started

• Rally a team of stakeholders to explore this topic. Start by aligning on goals for the project and reviewing the Independent Agent Experience research findings. 

Brainstorm capabilities  

• At a high level, what’s the easiest way to get started? What items can we begin introducing, and where can they exist? Determine a go-forward plan that’s manageable and designed to gain momentum over time.  

Develop a customer-centric design 

• Develop improvements, then test them with our insurance professionals. They’ll let us know if a solution met their needs or requires additional revisions before it’s ready to launch.