Cha-cha-ching: Customers vote with emotion, right Guillermo?

If you've caught this season of Dancing with the Stars, you've watched Guillermo Rodriguez, Jimmy Kimmel's beloved sidekick, defy the judges week after week. He and pro partner Witney Carson opened with a cha-cha that scored 10 out of 30, one of the lowest scores in the show's history. Week after week, he landed at or near the bottom of the leaderboard. And for four straight weeks, he kept coming back.

How? Judges' scores are only half the equation. The other half is the audience vote, and the audience loved him.

Customers vote with their hearts

Your business has judges too: price comparisons, spec sheets, online reviews and competitors with shinier offerings. But customers don't decide like a judging panel. They choose businesses that make them feel something: understood, valued, part of something, or simply happy to walk through the door.

Research backs this up. Forrester's 2026 Customer Experience Index rates experiences on three dimensions: effectiveness, ease and emotion. Of the three, Forrester finds emotion is often the best predictor of whether customers stay loyal, stick around and recommend you. Satisfied is good. Connected is better for business.

But you still have to dance

Here's the plot twist: Guillermo was eliminated in Week 5. Fan love bought him time, but it couldn't carry him forever as the competition tightened.

The same goes for your business. Emotional connection is a competitive advantage, not a whole strategy. If your product, service or price can't meet customers' practical needs, goodwill eventually runs out. Connection makes customers forgive the occasional misstep; it won't excuse two left feet forever.

How to get more customers voting for you

Build a purposeful customer experience strategy:

• Know what customers actually feel: use surveys, interviews and focus groups to understand the emotions behind their choices, not just their satisfaction scores.
• Find your superfans: identify your most connected customers, learn what keeps them coming back, then deliver more of it.
• Show up as people: empower your team to be personable, remember names and go the extra step.
• Be consistently you: connection is built through repeated experiences that deliver on your brand promise every time.
• Keep improving the fundamentals: quality, convenience and value are the price of admission. Connection is what makes customers stay.

What's this really mean for your business?

Great fundamentals get you on the dance floor. Emotional connection gets the crowd on its feet, voting for you week after week, even when a flashier competitor outscores you on paper. Nail the steps, win the hearts and measure both. Do that, and the Mirrorball is yours. Cha-cha-ching!