Various motivational biases and emotions shape customer experiences, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to designing experiences. For example, the customer’s mood significantly impacts the customer’s decision-making processes.

 

Today's discussion highlights why understanding the customer’s mood and managing customer emotions helps you achieve your desired experience outcomes. It also identifies twenty emotions driving or undermining value, stressing the necessity of specificity in emotional goals. 

 

We also cover the Affect Heuristic and Mood Management Theory, two prominent theories in psychology that are particularly relevant to our discussion on the role of emotion in decision-making. Here’s why:

 

• The Affect Heuristic suggests that our intuitive choices are often guided by emotional responses, with a preference for positive experiences. This has practical implications for businesses in terms of designing customer experiences that evoke positive emotions. 

 

• Mood Management Theory posits that our decisions are often driven by the desire to regulate our mood, seeking pleasure or alleviating discomfort. This theory helps us understand the role of mood in decision-making and its potential impact on customer experiences.

 

Context, culture, and age also influence mood and emotional responses. We discuss how cultural predispositions and life stages shape emotional goals and needs (which also explains why Colin’s Smiley Face Buttons on Etsy won’t sell like hotcakes in England). 

In this episode, we underscore the importance of recognizing and understanding the impact of mood on decisions. We also explore the power of positive thinking in shaping perceptions and responses to reality while acknowledging its limitations in influencing external outcomes. Additionally, we advocate for a diagnostic approach to customer emotions and behavior and capitalizing on positive or managing negative moods.

 

Here are a few key points we make in the podcast:

 

• Mood significantly influences decision-making processes, so understanding and managing customer emotions, which we covered in another episode recently, are crucial for designing effective experiences.
• Specific emotional goals are essential for achieving desired outcomes, so if you don’t have them, you should make them now.
• Context, culture, and age also influence mood and emotional responses.
• Why Colin and Ryan represent both the best and the worst culture has to offer regarding positive or negative outlooks on life. 
• Positive thinking can shape perceptions and responses to reality but can’t change reality; so think positive but work hard—and don’t walk barefoot over a field of hot lava because you “think you can.”