Affective Commitment: The Power of Small Things

In 2017, an incident occurred that made the rounds in the media: a passenger refused to give up his seat on an overbooked plane despite requests from the flight attendants. After some discussion, he was finally dragged out of the plane by force. The story, garnished with videos and pictures, quickly spread on every conceivable platform. The airline's stock plummeted, and the company lost nearly a billion dollars in value overnight. Considering how our world works, these consequences are understandable. The impact was so catastrophic that it seemed as if the airline was doomed.Yet a few months later, the airline's stock value had not only recovered - it was actually ten percent higher than before the scandal. Although media reports and Internet memes circulated for several months, the incident had virtually no financial impact on the company.But what exactly turned the tide for the better? Smart PR work, clever branding? Insightful new executives? Had the market rewarded negative - and potentially criminal - behavior?No: This debacle is just further proof that gross mistakes don't have as dire consequences as commonly assumed.

How our perception works

Humans are very good at recognizing patterns. Unconsciously, where we walk and stand, we systematically look for patterns. When we discover a deviation in the pattern, it catches our attention. We observe and analyze the deviation and eventually just drop it - unless it becomes a rule and thus part of the pattern. When we experience grossly bad service, we end up overlooking it and forgetting about it. Even if we do remember the incident, it has little effect on our behavior in the long term - not because it has no consequences for us, but because it lies outside our horizon of expectations.The average customer is unlikely to be able to give an accurate account of what his visit to the supermarket was like three months ago. He will not remember if it was easy to find a parking space, if there was a line at the sausage counter, or what the cashier looked like. But if you ask customers what their general experience has been with the supermarket in question, most of them will be able to tell you. They know whether it is customer-friendly, has the items they need in stock and whether the prices are within a reasonable range. In customer experience studies, this is usually referred to as "residual memory" - and residual memories are more relevant for future predictions than the momentary assessment of a single customer experience without further context.

Repeated failures are worse than gross blunders

Imagine going to a drugstore to get your favorite drink. When you pay, the cashier acts brusque, disdainful, even a little rude toward you - a departure from normalcy. But you would probably chalk this experience up to a "bad day," especially if the same cashier behaved differently last week.But if the same store is missing the special floss you need several times in a row, that's a pattern. As a reminder, people are really good at recognizing patterns.The consequences of these two scenarios are very different. In the first case, you overlook the bad experience with the cashier and almost completely forget about it. In the second case, your resident memory tells you that this drugstore doesn't have what you need.Maybe the floss isn't in stock because of a simple logistical delay. But you, the customer, don't care why. All you know is that you can't get the product you're looking for at that drugstore - and that you'll buy the floss somewhere else next time. Almost always, normal, day-to-day failures in service are the cause of a negative residual memory.In this case, the store gives you a reason to spend your money at another drugstore. So, of necessity, you go there and find that some products are even cheaper - and already the first drugstore has lost you as a shopper.While the bad experience with the unfriendly cashier doesn't affect you, a normal delivery failure changes your shopping behavior. Why? Because the cashier's bad mood was not typical for the drugstore.

Experiences that stay in the memory

A company creates positive, residual memories by developing highly differentiated processes around its service and then implementing them with the utmost care and authenticity. It's not enough to tell cashiers to smile. No, the company should rather work on its recruitment, coaching and motivation policy in order to employ satisfied employees who in turn want to satisfy the customers. Only then will smiling faces be imprinted on customers' minds - and the business get the reputation that its staff are always friendly. Sooner or later, customers build up a strong emotional bond with the company in this way.Such a bond is what customer experience experts call "affective commitment." Of course, every company in the world wants this emotional commitment, because people do the craziest things when they are fans of a brand. To be more precise, this leads to very irrational buying behavior on the part of the customer, with which greater profits can be made. If someone is completely enthusiastic about a brand and raves about it everywhere, he doesn't care if the price of an item goes up by 1 euro. And if he does care, he justifies it. He will invest his money only in this brand.However, keep in mind that a negative bond can have the opposite effect. If someone has a bad image of a company, he doesn't care how hard it tries - he will reject it and spend his money somewhere else.

The advantage of an emotional bond

An emotional, affective bond is created in various ways. Sometimes it is created by the corporate philosophy, which enhances and celebrates the values of the target group addressed. Sometimes a company has ambitious goals and customers identify with its vision.Patagonia, for example, is a brand with a great affective commitment from its customers. This is because the outdoor outfitter is guided by their values - with the result that its customers exhibit "irrational" buying behavior when it comes to Patagonia products. For example, a typical insulated quilted jacket on the Patagonia website for example 250 euros. Similar jackets, which in the vast majority of cases also provide similar protection against the cold, are available from Walmart for less than 20 euros.With this price difference, the question arises why someone would choose the Patagonia jacket. The (naturally emotionally attached) customer will argue that the more expensive jacket is very well made and that it will be repaired or replaced free of charge if damaged.Patagonia's market position is enviable, to say the least. Not only is purchased merchandise very rarely returned for repair - you could buy five or six jackets in different colors at Walmart for the price of one Patagonia jacket and still have money left over for a trip to the movies. That's the effect of emotional brand loyalty.Even if Patagonia carefully avoids gross blunders - the company would certainly survive a bad faux pas, because its customers are left with a pattern of positive residual memories.

It's the little things that count

Companies that want to improve their customer experience programs should spend more time on their business philosophy, their core principles and on small things. Small mistakes tear up quickly because they are normal and can be easily justified. But the customer does not forget. Only those who keep in mind what binds people to a brand can build a strong emotional bond with their customers - and increase their sales. * Luke Williams is Head of Customer Experience (CX) at Qualtrics, award-winning market researcher and co-author of the New York Times bestsellers "The Wallet Allocation Rule" and "Why Loyalty Matters." A thought leader in the areas of customer experience, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer ROI, strategy and analytics, he is a statistician and methodologist by training. He is also a member of the Market Research Association (MRA) and the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA). Luke Williams graduated from Durham University in England with a master's degree in research methodology.