Regretful customers are more likely to churn than disappointed ones
Personally, I remember feeling pride and joy in one moment and falling into sadness and anger with a tinge of anxiety soon after.
Emotions alert us of any changes in our environment that might stop us from achieving an important personal goal.
Our emotions help us course-correct and prepare for action.
A widely used framework for understanding the role of emotions and behaviour is Plutchik’s psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions. It suggests that humans evolved emotions to ensure our survival.
It includes eight basic emotions.
According to Plutchik, each primary emotion is linked to a characteristic behaviour, and each of those behaviours is connected to a survival function (Adaptive Function).
For example, experiencing joy makes us more cooperative. And cooperation is essential to the survival of our species.
Just think of how male birds have to put on an impressive enough dance show to be invited back to the nest.
Incompetence or force majeure?
Positive emotions encourage us to carry on (feeling more motivated and appreciated after a promotion). Negative emotions make us stop and re-evaluate (feeling ready to look for another job after a rejection.)
For decades psychologists have been studying the role regret and disappointment have on consumer behaviour.
You feel regret when you realise that you could’ve made a smarter purchase decision. You feel shame and decide to course-correct.
But you feel disappointed when your experience of the products falls below what you were led to believe.
Both result in dissatisfaction, but the resulting behaviours can be very different.
Studies have shown that people who feel disappointed will actively engage in negative word of mouth.
And the ones left feeling regretful after making a purchase are more likely to defect.
Think about it.
It pisses you off just a bit less when your flight is delayed due to bad weather than if the airline mismanaged the schedule.
You’re gonna drop the ball. Here’s what to do when that happens.
First things, first. You’ve messed up.
The right thing to do is apologise.
You need to mean it, though. Do not try to justify messing up.
Then, understand how your customers must be feeling.
Researchers have found a correlation between controllability and stability.
- People are less likely to complain when a brand can demonstrate that they’re taking practical actions to fix the situation (Controllability).
- And brands can discourage people from churning by demonstrating a track record for putting their customers first (Stability).
Research from 1991 suggests that providing a reward can help lessen the sadness caused by a sense of loss.
Whereas providing customisation can reduce anxiety caused by feeling a lack of control.
