Retailers and restaurants are bogged down, figuring out how to create the best customer experiences. In most cases they’re just ‘overthinking’ it and looking for the big home run idea. However, it’s the singles and doubles that work the best and those are, in most cases, right in front of their eyes.

The question shouldn’t be: ‘How do you provide a good customer experience – but how do you create a customer emotion – and a smile is an emotion?’

Why do we remember comedians? Why do we remember jokes or the people who told them? Because they made us smile. Or, hit songs? (Tie a yellow ribbon round that old oak tree.)

Retail stores and restaurants do not do a good job of making us smile – and it’s the easiest thing to do. Not doing so, hurts customer retention.

Can you remember the last time you smiled at something in Home Depot? How about your local grocery store? Anything in there ever stop you in your tracks to make you smile and embed that feeling in your memory bank?

Probably nothing, which is why you don’t know if you were in a Lowe’s or a Home Depot. Or, in a Harris Teeter or a Kroger. All of which truly means, to the disdain of these companies, there is no true customer loyalty if one doesn’t have an emotion connected to the previous store visit.

Maybe “smiling” should be part of a company’s marketing plan? Add that line item to another one that’s always forgotten: Lagniappe – going above and beyond a customer’s expectations.

So, how do you eat your fish ‘n chips?

###

Maybe smiling should be part of a company's marketing plan? Add that line item to another one that's always forgotten: Lagniappe - going above and beyond a customer's expectations. Click To Tweet