Understanding dopamine’s role in decision making is critical. Humans make decisions, which are far more complicated than other animals, and dopamine is thought to be a key contributor to the relative importance of “gut feeling” over rational thought. Dopamine signals the expected pleasure from future possible events and this signal then informs our choices. Building the anticipation of reward and pleasure can help trigger the release of dopamine and motivate positive behavior.
Businesses that “delight” customers are already triggering dopamine release. We know that dopamine is released in anticipation of a reward but unexpected dopamine is twenty times more pleasurable. Building unexpected reward into your customer journeys is key. We have a hard-wired love of novelty due to our dopamine pathway so being consistently good is not enough – we need to be consistently better.