In this present age, everything seems to be data driven and Customer relations have eventually turned out to be the same. The brands have long forgotten the value of customer experience and they remain not more than a set of metrics and numbers on a campaign dashboard. This is something which has downgraded the customer importance for the brands.

In this fast-paced world, focusing on real people have become an outdated idea. So, how should markets evolve from their custom dashboard and hit them where they actually feel? How do they connect with the real people who would actually understand their demands?

Why do brands not give impetus to real customer Experience?

With plenty and large amounts of data being generated today, the brands have all information for actions leading to high customer loyalty down to each customer level. It will require evaluating customer interactions, both monetary to non-monetary which means engaging via social media. The key is measuring individual intent and engagement in real time—what we call a customer’s “pulse.” Once that’s understood, there are ways to activate your outreach based on that unique pulse, as well as how to monitor and maintain a positive feedback loop.

With so much data available with the brands, they tend to neglect the support of real people. They go for the data available with them to expand their reach. Hence, they do not give much impetus to real customer experience. The individual intent and engagement in real time is often given less impetus and priority as compared to the data which is readily available. This individual intent is called a customer’s ‘pulse’

What exactly is a Customer Pulse as per the Customer Experience?

Often, the customer indicates their value and engage themselves on their brand usage based on the varying needs and situations. If the brand is good, they would increase the level of engagement over time determining their loyalty.  They would thus increase the value for business.  If you think of your relationship with a customer as a system which functions on investments and returns, the Pulse of the customer can be understood as a simple equation:

Pulse = Investments + Returns – Relationship Decay.

What level of Investment are we talking about?

The Investment includes personal outreach, relevant social content, exclusive or early access, rewards and incentives and all the time and energy which is put into creating it. The Returns come in the form of engagement: content sharing, repeat usage of a product, or a new purchase. In between investments and return is Relationship Decay, the reality that customers will gradually forget about their past experiences. Then the engagements when your brand is not top of mind becomes absolute.

How a customer’s pulse informs decision making?

Success is traditionally measured by purchases. But given the increasing interaction consumers have with brands via non-purchase activities, this needs to change. It’s not just a matter of changing the way interactions are measured, but these non-purchase interactions drive value. After all, even when purchases are infrequent, engagement with your brand over time holds immense value. For example, in the airline industry, studies show that when a tweet is answered in five minutes or less, the customer is willing to pay $20 or more for a ticket on that airline in the future.