I am routinely gobsmacked by the number of organizations that don’t measure customer emotions. Those that do often don’t think about how they will use the information they measure. The classic phrase, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” applies. To measure something like customer emotions in your Customer Experience, you need the proper tools.

I spend a lot of time thinking about measurement tools. We talked about measurement tools in a recent podcast, and how you can employ them in your Customer Experience. Let’s take a look at a few different ways you can get feedback on customer emotions.

However, before we get into the types and specifics of the measurement tools, I have some advice. Before you do any research, consider how you’re going to use it afterward.

This lesson I learned when I was working at my last corporate gig at British Telecom. I went to a presentation about the results of our research concerning customer satisfaction with some of our key products and services.

I was taken by the fact the person presenting was presenting it as if to say, “I don’t know why I bother in presenting this to you.” I stopped her and asked her why.

She said, “This is the third year you’ve employed us to do this research. And every year we come back and tell you the same results. And every year you do nothing about it. Why do you bother?”

She was right. We didn’t.

It was a cultural issue. We had the measurement, and we did the research, but we didn’t do anything with it. I don’t know that we had any idea what we would do with it, either.

What I wish I would have known then is that research is vital to moving your Customer Experience to the next level. Specifically, you need to know how your Customer Experience makes people feel. Measuring customer emotions in real time is an essential part of your Customer Experience strategy.

We develop emotional intelligence as children once we understand how other people feel. Based on the behavior of a few of our fellow humans, some of us more than others.

Now, machines are developing emotional intelligence as well. The latest developments in this field are changing the way we can measure authentic customer emotions in real time.

We discussed how technology and facial recognition are changing how to measure authentic customer emotions in real time on our latest podcast. Our guest, Zhecho Dobrev is a senior consultant at Beyond Philosophy and he shared some of the latest developments in the field.

I talk a lot about how people are irrational and have presented evidence for it. Most people can get on board with the idea that we are not robots that are purely rational.

Some people do push back on the idea that people are not rational. Typically, they are more rational-types. These non-believers throw up their hands and say, “Well, if we are all just mindless animals, are we going to treat people like dogs?”

We aren’t going to treat people like dogs. We are, however, going to figure out how they make decisions so we can design a Customer Experience that works with them during the process.

On our recent podcast, we discussed our rational and irrational tendencies as customers, a psychological concept that addresses why we are the way we are, and what you can do about it in your Customer Experience.

A psychology theory is all very well and good. However, if you can’t apply it to solve your practical needs, it is useless. However, there is another crucial thing you need to know about theory, especially regarding Customer Experience. People get theory wrong with Customer Experience. A lot.

We discussed a common mistake a lot of people make with psychological theory in our recent podcast. If you are making this mistake, too, we also shared how to fix it.

What is the mistake? When you are working with psychology theory and the science of analyzing human behavior, here is what you can’t do anymore:

You can’t apply one psychological theory to everyone all the time.

My company, Beyond Philosophy was named as one of the Best Management Consultancy firms in the UK by the Financial Times.  I was surprised and honored.

Getting recognized from the outside feels fantastic. What’s more, this award was voted on by clients and peers. All the hard work by my team has paid off, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

When I started my global Customer Experience consultancy in 2002, I had not been a consultant. I was a corporate guy; the kind that was used to spending someone else’s money to make them even more, as well as having a company car, an assistant, and a lot of perks. I did not know what to expect out on my own.

Some of you readers might be in the same boat now. You have an idea, an excellent one, and you want to give it a shot. However, you haven’t done it before and, to put it bluntly, you are scared.

That’s good, by the way. Fear is an excellent motivator. I was scared when I went out on my own, too. However, it is also no excuse.

In a recent podcast, I gave my ten-step plan for how to create your award-winning consultancy. While the list is not exhaustive, I hope it can inspire some of you to take the leap into your own entrepreneurial venture—and to great success.