Customer experience accosts all the 5 senses. Actually, that’s what customer experience is. Customer sense experience – how all the customer senses perceive interaction with you. So yes, it matters how you look. And no, the customer should not limit herself to judging the transaction at hand. She can’t; she’s human.
If you have a nose ring and its culturally acceptable in Denmark where you served as a waiter, lamenting how ‘backward’ we are here in Kenya for finding that inappropriate, while pontificating about how it shouldn’t matter how you are adorned, so long as you give a good service, will not see you in a job for long.
Customers—not employees—define what constitutes good service. The experience is theirs, not yours.
Personal behaviours that can positively affect the customer experience
Looks aside, what waft accosts their nostrils? Is it the stale odour of sweat? Yes, that matters too. Your knowledge in wealth management or plumbing is exemplary but the customer will interact with how you smell before you open your mouth-which hopefully doesn’t reek of the stench you have already attacked him with. And your skills will not redeem you.
No matter how you want to slice and dice it, first impressions still carry the day. That’s why, you may have never thought about it, but you already like the fries before you taste them. In fact, by the time you see them, you are already salivating. The smell makes you hungry, the sight delights you, the sound of the fryer reassures you, and only then do you experience taste and touch.
Smell, sight, sound, touch, and taste together create the foundation of customer experience. You haven’t even touched them and you are already sold.
Customer senses determine experience
The rating you get—whether through words, stars, or repeat business—is simply the customer’s interpretation of how their senses processed their encounter with you.
Different generations, of course, see things differently. Usually, the younger one matures into the older one’s worldview. But every so often, a generational shift occurs that reshapes norms altogether. Today’s Gen Z is such a generation—digitally fluent, globally influenced, and confidently expressive. They bring new ideas about presentation and professionalism to the workplace.
Gen Z and generational shift
That’s not a flaw; it’s evolution. Yet even in this evolution, some fundamentals endure. The matter of the other senses.
No amount of open-mindedness will make customers say, “Hmm, he reeked like a sewer but served me really well.” Do you see that happening? Do you ensilage a time when customers will go, “Hmm, her entire bust was on display but that did not distract me at all. My focus was on what she was selling. People should stop judging looks.”
If anything, the more things change the more they stay the same. Fashion cycles, technology advances, business models shift—but human biology and workplace perception remain largely unchanged.
Read: Difference in customer service and experience: lessons from Kenya
Which elements need to be connected to create an optimal customer experience?
Have you ever winced at the screech of a microphone that suddenly goes “Wheeee…” during a presentation? In that instant, you cover your ears and grimace, losing focus on what the speaker was saying.
That’s how one sense—sound—can overpower everything else. Likewise, if a salesperson mumbles, shouts, or drones, the message gets lost no matter how valuable it was. Argh! I couldn’t follow what he was saying. His voice kept breaking.”
And just like that, following the customer sense experience, the gold you were selling is perceived as ash. Sold on sight (of you), touch (from the demo), smell (of the lubricant) and taste, sound becomes the deal breaker. Yet here’s the thing-the customer does not consciously discern the senses.
Customer experience is not, er, experienced in silos- The entire experience is seamless. The senses are independent yet intertwined, creating a single emotional and sensory impression that defines how the encounter felt.
Read: Remove friction from the purchase experience
Customer experience best practices
So, what does customer sense experience mean for businesses and customer interacting staff.
For businesses, engage each sense for a better customer experience. This means investing not only in products but in experiences. Every sensory point counts. It’s a winning strategy and your brand (what you are known for). For example, what do you see first- green or Safaricom?
That’s why Uber asks you to rate every ride complete with options around destination accuracy, the atmosphere of the car, cleanliness, courtesy, driver and driving. It’s wholesome.
Customer experience is not built on silos; it’s a symphony of sensations that together create delight—or disappointment.
Behavioural skills for customer service
And for employees across all departments, keeping customer sense experience front and centre, remain aware of what your senses are projecting. Customers associate you (and therefore your employer) with them. For example, the radiologist who takes perfect X-rays yet twists a patient’s arm in pain during positioning—the diagnostic image may be flawless, but the experience is not.
Now then. You’ll never score an all-star rating consistently, but it’s an ideal (initiative) worth consistently pursuing. Why? Because customers will consistently reward you for the genuine effort.
Customer experience accosts all five senses. And all five belong to the customer, not you.
Read: If they don’t buy you, they won’t, your product
Check out our short courses and other services here. If you would like to have your sales team sell more, we can help. In order for us to do so we propose a free consultation meeting or a call. If in agreement please complete the form below and we will get in touch after receiving your details, none of which will be public. Thank you.
Views – 3