Sell the emotion.

• Author: Carbone, Lou
• Position: Customer relation of the retail banking

Customers buy a product or service from you because they have a positive feeling about your bank--that is, a good customer experience. Here are some quick, easy ways to maintain or enhance these good customer vibes.

BANK CLOSINGS CONTINUE TO SLOW, a welcome sign that the industry is getting stronger. However, this doesn't mean that customer banking relationships are going to be calmer and more settled in the months ahead.

In fact, the World Retail Banking Report 2013 by Capgemini and Efma found that more than 50 percent of customers say that they are likely to close their account and switch to another bank within the next six months. The report goes on to say, "The quality of overall service is the primary factor that drives customers to leave their bank."

What other factor is adding to the risk of customer exodus? The answer is banks' failure to provide more personal customer experiences. Positive customer experiences are strongly correlated with the trust customers place in their banks and with the customers' belief that their banks have a good understanding of their needs. Historically seen as pillars of the community, banks now find themselves at bottom of the trust totem pole. Customer trust in banks and financial institutions has fallen so dramatically, in fact, that the "Edelman Global Trust Survey of 2013" ranked it the least-trusted sector. This survey result is especially troubling given that trust is the very foundation of banking.

To reclaim its spot on the top of the trust totem pole, banks need to embrace the realization that everything is an emotional buy--everything. Whether buying a cup of coffee, staying at a hotel or securing a mortgage for a new house. Our emotional reaction to a service transaction is the fundamental driver of our purchasing decision.

Furthermore, emotion, more than satisfaction, is the foundation of the customer experience: What's it like to do business with the product or service provider? How does the transaction make me feel? Of course, rational thought, consideration of pros and cons and so forth may be part of the buying decision. But it's our emotions--the feelings, senses, intuition and gut reaction that are processed in our unconscious thought--that will be the driving force. In fact, behavioral scientists have long reported that 95 percent of our purchase decisions take place unconsciously.

Gallup research has also shown that truly different customer behavior emerges when the customer is not only rationally satisfied but emotionally attached. Emotional attachment starts with satisfaction...