User Experience and Emotional Engagement

WANT CUSTOMER DELIGHT? GO THE EXTRA INCH, NOT THE EXTRA MILE In a world where companies strive to “go the extra mile” for their customers, I propose a counterintuitive thought: You don’t need to go a mile. You just need to go an inch. The smallest, low-cost gestures can have a massive impact on customers, turning ordinary transactions into memorable experiences. The secret - search for the asymmetry between cost and impact. Going the extra inch requires minimal effort and often costs next to nothing. It could be a handwritten note, a smile, a gesture of personal recognition, a small act of kindness. But the effect on customers is profound. It creates emotional connections, fosters loyalty, and makes customers into advocates. The irony - while everyone is busy trying to “go the extra mile,” it is the extra inch that nets you miles of customer loyalty. THE I.N.C.H. FRAMEWORK To master the art of the extra inch, use this simple yet powerful framework: I – Identify Moments of Truth: Look for touchpoints where expectations are neutral or low. These are prime opportunities to surprise and delight. For instance, when I got my car serviced at the Lexus dealership, they washed and vacuumed the car and left a red carnation flower on the dash. I have told more than 10,000 people about the 50-cent carnation. How’s that for ROI? N – Notice the Little Things: Train employees to observe and remember small details about customers—preferences, moods, or special occasions. At the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, I asked for a memory foam pillow. Every time I stay there, they put a memory foam pillow on my bed. C – Customize the Experience: Personalize the interaction or gesture. Even the smallest customization can create a huge emotional impact. At Chewy, when a customer returned dog food after their pet passed away, they received a condolence card and flowers. It wasn’t about making a sale; it was about showing empathy. H – Humanize the Interaction: Move beyond scripted conversations. Authenticity and empathy resonate more than robotic efficiency. At Café Lucci, our favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago, the valet, the server, and the owner Bobby - all know us, know our kids, and always ask about the family. We are customers for life! In the race to “go the extra mile,” it’s easy to overlook the power of the extra inch. The secret to exceptional customer service isn’t grand gestures or expensive perks—it’s the tiny, thoughtful actions that leave a lasting impression. Going the extra inch is about mastering the art of the unexpected. It’s about creating emotional connections through small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. So, the next time you think about how to delight a customer, remember: You don’t have to go the extra mile. Just go the extra inch. You will get miles of loyalty. #Marketing #CustomerExperience #Loyalty #Advocacy

Brains aren’t calculators (they really aren’t). People compare, not score, so why do we keep asking for numbers when their minds work in stories and snapshots? I used to rely heavily on rating questions in UX studies. You’ve probably used them too. Rate the ease of a task from 1 to 7 or indicate satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 10. These questions feel measurable and look neat in reports, but after running enough sessions, I started noticing a pattern. A participant would finish a task and pause when asked for a score. They’d hesitate, look unsure, and eventually say something like, “Maybe a six?” followed by, “I’m not really sure what that means.” That hesitation is not about the experience itself. It’s about the format of the question. Most people do not evaluate their experiences using numbers. They judge by comparing, whether against other apps, past expectations, or familiar interactions. When I started asking questions like “How did that compare to what you’re used to?” or “Was that easier or harder than expected?” the responses became clearer and more useful. Participants shared what stood out, what surprised them, and what felt better or worse. Their answers were grounded in real impressions, not guesses. This shift from rating questions to comparison questions changed how I run research. Rating scales flatten experiences into abstract numbers. Comparison questions surface preference, context, and emotion. They help users express themselves in the way they naturally reflect on experiences. And they help researchers hear the parts of the experience that actually drive behavior. There is strong support for this in cognitive science. Tversky’s Elimination by Aspects model shows that people decide by gradually filtering out options that lack something important. Prototype theory explains that we judge how well something matches our internal image of what “good” looks like. Both models show that people think in relative terms, not fixed scores. Even heuristic evaluation in usability relies on comparing designs to expected norms and mental shortcuts, not isolated measurement. These models all point to the same idea. People understand and evaluate experiences through contrast. Asking them to rate something on a scale often hides what they really feel. Asking them to compare helps them express it. I still use quantitative data when needed. It helps with tracking and reporting. But when I want to understand why something works or fails, I ask comparison questions. Because users don’t think in scores. They think in reference points, in expectations, and in choices. That is what we should be listening to.

Stop treating your prospects like calculators. I learned this lesson painfully while leading the launch of a new solution for a healthcare transformation organization. The CEO and SVP of Product Innovation were well-intentioned, but they had biases that fueled their convictions. “Show them the science and ROI. Once they see the data, they’ll switch,” said the CEO. “They’ll switch?” I asked curiously. They rarely switched for the logic. They often resisted because we didn’t understand the emotion that tied them to maintaining the status quo. Most B2B marketers still build journeys on the idea that buyers only care about features, scientific studies, and ROI models. But real people buy with their hearts as much as their heads. LinkedIn's B2B Institute found that emotional factors significantly influence B2B buying decisions, accounting for 66%, while rational factors account for the remaining 34%. When you act like every decision is a math problem, you miss the emotional needs and biases that drive action. Fear of missing out. Desire for security. The endorsement of a trusted referral. Those feelings tip the scales long before spreadsheets ever come out. Three quick shifts to make your GTM more human: 💡 Map emotions, not just touchpoints. Ask: What’s the buyer afraid of at each stage? What small win can calm that fear? Use stories to build trust. 💡 Data is important. But a 2-minute customer story about real struggle and success sticks far longer. 💡 Frame decisions around loss-aversion. “Don’t lose your edge” often lands harder than “gain more efficiency.” When you blend hard facts with a genuine understanding of how people feel, you’ll see faster decisions and deeper loyalty. Takeaway: Your next user journey should start with these questions: ✔️ “How do we show up in our customers' struggles? ✔️ "Do they see us as relevant?” ✔️ Can they see their lives as being better because of our help? Build from there. #businessgrowth #GTM #buyerjourney #CMO

Ever heard of the 'peak-end rule'? This psychological principle often goes unnoticed, yet it plays a crucial role in product design. Especially within SaaS platforms. The peak-end rule suggests that our memory of past experiences is shaped not by the entire experience, but primarily by its peaks (both positive and negative) and how it ended. In other words, users will judge an entire experience based on its most intense points and its conclusion. This has profound implications in product design. It guides how we craft user journeys and interactions. Every touchpoint, feature, and interaction forms part of a user's experience in SaaS platforms. By focusing on creating positive peak moments and satisfying conclusions, we can shape a user’s overall perception of the software. Even if every single moment isn’t perfect. For SaaS products, where first impressions and overall user satisfaction are key, applying the peak-end rule can significantly enhance the 'time to value'. By designing peak moments that delight users and ensuring their journey ends on a high note, we can create a more memorable and positive experience. This encourages quicker adoption and deeper engagement. As product teams, we must recognize the power of the peak-end rule in shaping user perceptions. By intentionally designing these peak moments and satisfying endings, we can craft experiences that meet and exceed user expectations. This fosters loyalty and long-term engagement. Have you noticed the impact of peak moments and endings in your experience with SaaS products? #UXDesign #SaaS #UserExperience #DigitalStrategy #UX

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is outpacing the awareness of many companies, yet the potential these AI tools hold is enormous. The nexus of AI and emotional intelligence (EQ) is emerging as a revolutionary game-changer. Here’s why this intersection is crucial and how you can leverage it: 🔍 AI can handle data analysis and repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on empathetic, creative, and strategic work. This synergy enhances both productivity and the quality of interactions. Imagine a retail company struggling with high customer churn due to poor customer service experiences. By integrating AI tools like IBM Watson's Tone Analyzer into their customer service process, they could identify emotional triggers and tailor responses accordingly. This proactive approach could transform dissatisfied customers into loyal advocates. Practical Application: AI-driven sentiment analysis tools can help businesses understand customer emotions in real-time, tailoring responses to improve customer satisfaction. For example, using AI chatbots for initial customer service interactions can free up human agents to handle more complex, emotionally charged issues. Strategy Tip: Integrate AI tools that provide real-time sentiment analysis into your customer service processes. This allows your team to quickly identify and address customer emotions, leading to more personalized and effective interactions. By integrating AI with EQ, businesses can create a more responsive and human-centric experience, driving both loyalty and innovation. Embracing the combination of AI and EQ is not just a trend but a strategic move towards future-proofing your business. We’d love to hear from you: How is your organization leveraging AI to enhance emotional intelligence? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below! #AI #EmotionalIntelligence #CustomerExperience #Innovation #ImpactLab

How many times have you added motion design as a last-minute flourish in your UX projects? Instead, imagine its impact if integrated from the start. Motion design isn't just decorative—it transforms user experiences. Let's explore why it's crucial for engaging and intuitive UX. There's a real human element bringing interfaces to life with motion design. ↳ Storytelling Through Motion: Motion can tell a story, guiding users through a narrative without words. UX motion design uses animations to lead users through a journey, making the experience feel organic and human. ↳  Creating Emotional Connections: Motion has the power to evoke emotions. It can surprise, delight, and reassure users, creating a deeper connection with the product. ↳  Anticipating User Needs: Good motion design anticipates what users need next. It provides visual cues that guide users naturally through tasks. ↳  Visual Feedback: Motion provides instant feedback, confirms actions, keeps users informed, reduces uncertainty, and enhances usability. ↳  Unified Visual Language: Consistent motion patterns create a cohesive brand experience, making navigation predictable and enjoyable. ↳  Perceived Time: Thoughtful animations can make an interface feel faster and more responsive, even if the actual load time remains the same. Motion in UX design isn't just about aesthetics—it's about creating human-centered experiences that feel natural and intuitive. By telling a story, engaging emotions, guiding users, and ensuring consistency, motion transforms static interfaces into dynamic, living experiences. Imagine the possibilities when your designs move with purpose and emotion. How will you incorporate motion to enhance your user experiences? Share your thoughts and examples in the comments below! ↳ Ref: GM3 Transition Types: https://bit.ly/3KNyYc6

I’m excited to share not one but two research papers, written jointly by researchers from OpenAI and the MIT Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We try to answer the following question: How do interactions with AI chatbots affect people’s social and emotional well-being? Our findings show that both model and user behaviors can influence social and emotional outcomes. Effects of AI vary based on how people choose to use the model and their personal circumstances. This research provides a starting point for further studies that can increase transparency, and encourage responsible usage and development of AI platforms across the industry. We want to understand how people use models like ChatGPT, and how these models in turn may affect them. To begin to answer these research questions, we carried out two parallel studies1 with different approaches: an observational study to analyze real-world on-platform usage patterns, and a controlled interventional study to understand the impacts on users. Study 1: The team at OpenAI conducted a large-scale, automated analysis of nearly 40 million ChatGPT interactions without human involvement in order to ensure user privacy. Study 2: The team from the MIT Media Lab conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with nearly 1,000 participants using ChatGPT over four weeks. This IRB-approved, pre-registered controlled study was designed to identify causal insights into how specific platform features (such as model personality and modality) and types of usage might affect users’ self-reported psychosocial states, focusing on loneliness, social interactions with real people, emotional dependence on the AI chatbot and problematic use of AI. In developing these two studies, we sought to explore themes around how people are using models like ChatGPT for social and emotional engagement, and how this affects their self-reported well-being. Our findings include: - Emotional engagement with ChatGPT is rare in real-world usage. Affective cues were not present in the vast majority of on-platform conversations we assessed. - Even among heavy users, high degrees of affective use are limited to a small group. This subset was significantly more likely to consider ChatGPT a friend. - Voice mode has mixed effects on well-being. Better with brief use, worse with prolonged daily use. - Conversation types impact well-being differently. Personal conversations associated with higher loneliness but lower emotional dependence at moderate usage. - User outcomes are influenced by personal factors including emotional needs, AI perceptions, and usage duration. - Combining research methods gives us a fuller picture. Platform data capture organic behavior, while controlled studies isolate variables to determine causal effects. Check out the full paper: https://lnkd.in/eajq59Jw https://lnkd.in/edqCNZq2

Telling a compelling story with UX research has nothing to do with flair and everything to do with function, empathy, and influence. One of the most critical yet underappreciated lessons in UX and product work - beautifully articulated in It’s Our Research by Tomer Sharon - is that research doesn’t succeed just because it’s rigorous or well-designed. It succeeds when its insights are heard, understood, remembered, and acted upon. We need to stop treating communication as an afterthought. The way we present research is just as important as the research itself. Storytelling in UX is not decoration - it’s a core deliverable. If your goal is to shape decisions rather than just share findings, the first step is to design your communication with the same care you give your methods. That means understanding the mindset of your stakeholders: what they care about, how they process information, and what pressures they’re facing. Storytelling in this context isn’t about performance - it’s about empathy. The insight must also be portable. It needs to survive the room and be retold accurately across meetings, conversations, and documents. If your findings require lengthy explanations or rely too heavily on charts without clear conclusions, the message will fade. Use strong framing, clear takeaways, and repeatable phrases. Make it memorable. Avoid leading with your process. Stakeholders care far less about your methods than they do about the problems they’re trying to solve. Lead with the tension - what’s broken, what’s at risk, what’s creating friction. Only then show what you learned and what opportunities emerged. Research becomes powerful when it forecasts outcomes, not just reports behaviors. What will it cost the business to ignore this behavior? What might change if we take action? When we can answer these questions, research earns its place at the strategy table. Treat your report like a prototype. Will it be used? Will it help others make decisions? Does it resonate emotionally and strategically? If not, iterate. Use narrative elements, embed user moments, bring in supporting visuals, and structure it in a way that guides action. Finally, stop thinking of the share-out as a one-way street. Facilitate instead of presenting. Invite stakeholders to interpret, ask questions, and explore implications with you. When they co-create meaning, they take ownership-and that leads to real action. Research only creates value when it moves people. Insights are not enough on their own. What matters is the clarity and conviction with which they are communicated.

I came across Dexter (YC F24), by Bella Wu and Caterina Kiehntopf — and saw a quick opportunity to make the UX more emotionally engaging and product-aligned. Not a critique. Just a creative exploration. Here’s what I saw 👇 Original Site – What felt misaligned? - Generic headline - Lack of visual emotion — no immediate product connection. - Weak contrast, minimal depth — hard to feel engaged. - CTA was easy to miss. - No strong identity. Redesign Direction – What we tried instead - Emotionally charged hero with depth and motion - Clear messaging - Strong visual identity that sparks curiosity - High-contrast CTA that stands out - UI snippets to signal real functionality without clutter In a world of noise, first impressions aren’t just visual, they’re emotional. If it doesn’t click in 3 seconds, it’s a scroll. And when your brand reflects your customer's identity? They don’t just try it, they talk about it. This wasn’t a client project. Just a 1.5 hour design sprint to explore better alignment. But imagine what’s possible with a full-on revamp.

Every delightful customer interaction begins with the marketer, and it can only be as powerful as the #CRM and #metadata underpinning it. With agents supporting them at every step of the customer journey creation process, marketers and #customerengagement teams can now create superior experiences shaped by intelligent and emotionally resonant conversations. At a cognitive level, the human brain no longer perceives AI as a “chatbot.” It perceives a relationship. This emotional shift fundamentally changes how consumers relate to brands, fostering deeper loyalty and trust. When customers interact with agents in a way that feels natural, their engagement deepens. The implications go far beyond engagement. Every AI-driven interaction generates a wealth of contextual data, far richer than what brands could ever collect from a single web form or survey. In one conversation, an agent can gather insights about a customer’s preferences, behaviors, and intent, building a more complete, dynamic customer profile. This continuous intelligence loop allows brands to maximize the value of every interaction. Let’s bring this to life with an example... Imagine Melanie, one of your many potential customers. She’s been thinking about joining Posh Fitness, a popular gym chain in her city. Instead of filling out a form, she decides to engage with the agent on their website. As they chat, it quickly feels more like a friendly exchange than a transaction. Melanie shares her fitness goals, whether she wants to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve flexibility, and the agent listens closely, asking the right questions to understand her needs and intent. The agent gathers valuable insights through this conversation that a simple web form could never capture. Melanie mentions her dietary restrictions, her preference for a supportive personal trainer style, and that she loves outdoor workouts but needs a flexible schedule due to her busy life. In just a few minutes, the agent collects a wealth of data about Melanie: her goals, preferences, and availability—all essential to crafting a personalized experience. And because the conversation feels human-like and emotionally resonant, it creates an immediate connection to Posh Fitness. By collecting this richer data early in the relationship, Posh Fitness can offer tailored recommendations and build Melanie’s loyalty well before she signs up. This isn’t just about closing a sale. It’s about building trust and delivering personalized experiences that evoke emotions and feel deeply human. Brands that will thrive in the era of #Agentic #AI are those that recognize the shift from transactional interactions to relationship-driven engagement. This isn’t just about personalization; it’s about creating experiences and dialogues that feel alive—where AI and marketers co-create journeys that adapt in real time, amplifying the impact of every customer moment.