Reconstructing Experiences

What are Customer Experiences? According to Heather Wintermantel (2024), Head of Global Customer Experience, Customer Success Strategy & Innovation at Zendesk, “Customer Experience (CX) is all the interactions customers have with your company at all stages of the customer journey. Whether it’s a call to customer service, observing an ad, or something as simple as paying a bill, every exchange impacts how a customer perceives a business.” As a Psychologist, I feel that most definitions of Customer Experience could sometimes place front and center customer’s interactions (behaviors) before perceptions (cognitions or even emotions). Human beings are complex entities that mediate their environment through the interconnectedness of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. As established by the Cognitive Behavioral model, created by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, these three components closely interact to make up every experience human being have.

The Cognitive Behavioral model defines “thoughts” as the mental processes that involve the interpretation, evaluation, and analysis of situations, events, or stimuli. In other words, thoughts are those running commentaries we “hear” in our minds everyday that help us make sense of our surroundings and situations. On the other hand, “emotions” are complex psychological and physiological states that arise in response to a specific stimuli, thoughts, or situations. Emotions can be the result of an individual’s thoughts and beliefs about a situation rather than the situation itself. Lastly, “behaviors” refer to the actions or responses that individuals engage in as a result of their thoughts and emotions. They are the things a person (or customer) does (or doesn’t do) in response to internal or external stimuli. Most people believe that all behavior is observable through overt actions, however, behaviors can also manifest as covert actions, like internal self-talk or mental rituals.

The Cognitive Behavioral model proposes a cyclical relationship where thoughts influence emotions, emotions influence behaviors, and behaviors can, in turn, reinforce thoughts and emotions. For example, a customer walks into a bank to inquire about a loan. Upon entering, they notice that the waiting area is full, and there are no clear indications of how long the wait will be. The customer stands in line and starts thinking about the situation. The customer then thinks, “this is going to take forever. This bank probably doesn’t value their customers if they make them wait this long.” This thought leads the customer to feel frustrated and anxious. The frustration comes from the belief that their time is not respected, and the anxiety stems from uncertainty about how long the process will take and whether their needs will be adequately addressed. As a result of these emotions, the customer may start to fidget, repeatedly check their watch, or even decide to leave the bank and look for a different institution where they believe the will be treated better. If they stay, their frustration might lead to a less friendly interaction with the bank staff, potentially reinforcing their negative perception of the experience.

Our thoughts, emotions and behaviors are in a constant interplay that shapes all human experiences. This takes us to our next question. What are experiences? In psychology, an experience is understood as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that involves sensory inputs, emotional responses, cognitive processing, and interpretation. It is a subjective and dynamic process that shapes, and is shaped by, an individual’s interactions with the world. Ulric Neisser (1967), a cognitive psychologist, emphasized that experience is not only about the sensory input but also about how that input is processed and stored in memory. In a nutshell, experiences are cognitive records (memories) of how we experience the world and serve as a guide for future actions. Much like a computer, our brains encode, store, and retrieve both the facts and experiential details that we consciously recall, as well as deeply ingrained knowledge that emerges effortlessly or even without our awareness.

“Memory forms the input for future behavior. Therefore, how individuals remember a certain experience may just be as important as the experience itself.” (Strijbosch, et al., 2019).

Episodic memory is a type of long-term memory that captures the details of past events that an individual has personally experienced. While all forms of memory involve the gathering and retention of information, episodic memory is uniquely tied to the subjective experience of the person recalling it. This type of memory reflects the richness of one’s past experiences, encompassing specific details of what occurred, as well as how it looked, sounded, and felt to be present in that moment. Like a cognitive time machine, it allows a person to mentally “revisit” a version of that moment, even if some details may fade or change over time. Recalling past experiences through episodic memory is viewed as a process of “reconstruction.” Memory traces are created in the brain based on an experience, and later, a retrieval cue – whether internal, such as a related thought, or external, like a sound, photo, or familiar place – triggers the brain to reconstruct the details of that experience into conscious awareness. For example, imagine you go on a family vacation to the beach. During this trip, you create many memories – playing in the sand with your kids, swimming in the ocean, and enjoying a sunset. These experiences are encoded in your brain as memory traces, including the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions associated with the vacation. Months later, you hear ocean waves while listening to an ad. This sound serves as an external retrieval cue, triggering your brain to bring those beach vacation memories back to consciousness. You might vividly recall the warmth of the sun, the smell of the salty air, and the happiness you felt during the trip. As depicted by this example, the most effective memory cues are those that align with the context of the original experience. This is what psychologists call the “encoding specificity principle.”

This brings us to our final question. How can we leverage the “encoding specificity principle” to help us enhance customer experiences and promote loyalty? The encoding specificity principle is a concept in cognitive psychology that suggests that memory is most effectively retrieved when the context during the encoding of the information is similar to the context at the time of retrieval. The principle was first introduced by Endel Tulving and Donal Thomson in 1973 and states that memories are not stored in isolation but are encoded with specific cues related to the environment, emotional state, or context present at the time of learning. When these same cues are present during recall, they help trigger the memory, making retrieval easier and more accurate. With regards to customer experiences, the encoding specificity principle can be meaningful in how customers perceive, recall, and evaluate their interactions with a brand or services. Let’s see how applying this principle can lead to enhanced experiences and loyalty.

Consistency in Customer Interactions: Just as memory retrieval is more effective when the encoding and retrieval contexts are similar, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty can be enhanced when the customer experiences consistent interactions across different touchpoints. For example, if a customer has a positive experience with a brand’s customer service in one channel (e.g., in-store), they are more likely to have a favorable perception of the brand if they experience similar positive service interactions across other channels (e.g., online support, social media, etc.).

Contextual Relevance in Customer Experience: The environments in which customers interact with a brand can influence their memories and perceptions of those interactions. If a customer first encounters a brand in a particular context (e.g., through a targeted advertisement during a specific event), their future experiences with the brand might be influenced by how well subsequent interactions align with that initial context. If the brand maintains a consistent theme or tone, the customer’s positive memories are more likely to be triggered during subsequent interactions, leading to a more cohesive and favorable CX.

Personalization and Contextual Cues: Personalization in Customer Experience can be viewed as an intrinsic application of the encoding specificity principle. When a brand tailors its interactions based on a customer’s previous behavior, preferences, or context, it essentially recreates the context in which positive memories are formed, thereby enhancing the likelihood of customer satisfaction. For instance, if a customer has previously expressed a preference for eco-friendly products, and the brand continues to highlight these options in future interactions, the customer is more likely to recall and appreciate the brand’s alignment with their values.

Emotional and Contextual Triggers: Emotions play a significant role in memory encoding and retrieval. In CX, creating emotionally resonant experiences can lead to stronger and more positive memories of the brand. If a customer’s initial reaction with a brand was during a moment of high emotional significance (e.g., purchasing a gift for a loved one), future interactions that evoke similar emotions are likely to strengthen the customer’s attachment to the brand, based on the encoding specificity principle. Improving Recall of Positive Experiences: Brands can design CX strategies that deliberately recreate or reference previous positive experiences, thereby enhancing the customer’s recall of those experiences. For example, loyalty programs that remind customers of past rewards or personalized recommendations based on past purchases can trigger positive memories, making the customer more likely to engage with the brand again.

By understanding the complex layers of interconnections between thoughts, emotions, and behavior we can better harness how humans (in this case, customers) can better encode, store, retrieve and reconstruct brand experiences. Through the encoding specificity principle, CX professionals can better design and manage customer journeys that not only meet but exceed expectations by ensuring that the context in which positive experiences are formed is consistently and thoughtfully recreated through the customer’s relationship with the brand.

Sources:

1. Wintermantel, H. (2024, June 28). Customer experience: A comprehensive guide for 2024. Zendesk.

2. Beck, A.T. (1970). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. Penguin Books.

3. Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive psychology. Appleton-Century-Crofts.

4. Strijbosch, W., Mitas, O., Gisbergen, M., Doicaru, M., Gelissen, J., and Bastiaansen, M. (2019). From experience to memory: On the robustness of the peak-and-end-Rule for complex, heterogeneous experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1705. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01705

5. Tulving, E., & Thomson, D. M. (1973). Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Psychological Review, 80(5), 352-373. https:/dois.org/10.1037/h0020071