Customer Support Experience

Customer support experiences can shape overall brand image, especially when it comes to the gaming industry. A better understanding of the emotions that gamers experience when interacting with support can identify which specific channels (e.g., phone, in-game chat, web chat, email, etc.) generate negative emotions and tension. With an enhanced understanding of the support experience, we developed a targeted strategy for our client, a global leader in digital interactive entertainment, to resolve existing pain points and ease gamer tensions when interacting with support.

To extract the emotional component of a gaming support experience, we leveraged our Emotional Mindshare and Tension Measurement Tool to gain insights into the emotions and tension generated during this exchange. We targeted a diverse group of gamers who engage with four key channels – phone, in-game chat, web chat, and email. A list of ~20 emotions were carefully curated in collaboration with our client to ensure relevance to the gaming community, while simultaneously striking the right balance of positive and negative emotions to measure tension.

Using this tool, we were able to test our hypothesis that there were indeed differences in tension during those support experiences. In this case, we successfully identified the email channel as a high-tension driver relative to the other channels. Gaining a better understanding of Emotional Mindshare and Tension can empower decision-makers to invest in areas of their business that cause significantly more pain than others. Changes to the way gamers interact with email support are now underway to ease the tension in this channel.