Christian retailers received a lesson in "emotional signatures" and how they affect customers' shopping experience Sunday during the opening General Session of ICRS.

United Kingdom-based Colin Shaw, author of The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value (Palgrave Macmillan), talked to attendees via Skype, explaining the results of a two-year study he conducted to see how customers feel about their shopping experiences.

He found that there is a range of 20 emotions that customers can feel, which can be either positive or negative. For example, if a store causes a customer to feel hurried, disappointed or frustrated, that store is losing value, Shaw said. If a store stimulates a customer's sense of being cared about and promoting happiness or trust, then the store's emotional signature can turn a mere shopper into an advocate.

When Shaw concluded, a panel shared their stories on what it takes to engage customers and keep them coming back. Bill White, vice president of sales for Not of This World and C28; Danni Schneidt-Hill, owner of Promises "His" Coffee & Cottage Shoppe in Malta, Mont.; and Cindy Lambert, publishing strategist for Somersault Group, shared how creating connection is more important than just winning customers.

"We need to create a lifestyle place, where we are all about living out the gospel," Schneidt-Hill said.

Lambert added: "One of the new trends is So-Lo-Mo. Customers want to use social media, engage locally in their own community and keep their mobile device always with them. One way a retailer could use that, for example, is to announce via email or social media that you will be having a Liz Curtis Higgs event from 6 until 9 p.m. for one evening only. Offer those who get your Facebook invite, evite or tweet a gift or discount to come out. Or arrange for Liz to be there via Skype to answer questions for a few minutes during the event. That makes a store not just a place to shop, but a destination."

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