We recently posted a blog on the meaning of customer experience and the value of improvement in customer experience design. We elaborated on learning to view the design from ‘inside out’ and ‘outside-in’ simultaneously.
When considering why convenience has become a key differentiator in customer experience, the answer is right in our faces: We all have busy lives; we’re all pulled in multiple directions all day long. Given an alternative, does anyone want less convenience or to spend more time on their to-do list?
This idea isn’t really new. Corner markets and convenience stores aren’t just competing with the big-box superstores, they flourish. Why? The reason is in their names: They’re right where their customers are, and they’re convenient.
They don’t usually have lines, and they don’t have aisles and aisles of choices to sift through. They’ve established just what their shoppers want to be able to run in and grab, be it a hot snack, a cold drink, or gas for the car and ice cream for the kids.
Taking this one step further, let’s consider the downside of limitless choices. In quick and convenient customer experience, the customer doesn’t want to wander around, get lost or distracted, or hit a dead-end on their way to achieving their goal for the transaction; in fact, getting in and out easily with exactly what they need is an integral part of the goal.
The industry disruptors like Amazon are the ones who latch onto this reality and work to not only be proactive and easy on their customers today but to look ahead and implement what will be quick and convenient tomorrow.
For instance, the most effective chatbots are programmed to recognize when a customer is struggling and to effortlessly deliver that customer to a live customer service agent.
Changing your approach so that each part of the customer experience is created around your customers’ definition of what is convenient is what creates loyalty today. Have you gone through your own company’s customer journey recently? If you were a customer, would you feel your company is easy to do business with?
Our team at Digital Spark Marketing often gets
asked why emphasize customer experience design. The answer we believe is pretty
simple. Customers remember and value great experiences that demonstrate deep
understanding and respect for their needs.
When businesses learn how to deliver and evolve
differentiated experiences, they are able to build strong and enduring customer
relationships that enable business growth.
We have defined 10 laws of customer experience design that we use in the process of improving the design of our clients’ customer experience. Today we examine the 10 laws of customer experience design. We give a short discussion of these laws here:
Consistency
The idea is to make things more user-friendly by aesthetic consistency of style and appearance. We recommend defining and implementing a set of standards here.
Co-creation of Value
Customer experience innovation is a bottom-up process we believe. Employ your customers in the ideation and design process.
Frame the experience design in the context of
your customers’ actual use. You will receive fewer ideas by asking what they
want.
Storytelling
Create better imageries, emotions, and
understanding through sharing of stories with your customer communities.
Hierarchy of needs
Customer experience features must serve the lower-level human needs before the high-level needs can begin to be addressed.
Expectation effect
This law refers to ways in which expectations
affect perceptions and behavior. When people are aware of a probable outcome,
their perceptions and behaviors are affected in many ways. Expectation
management should be a key component of the design process.
Exposure effect
To obtain a good exposure effect, find the best
stimuli to repeatedly present. Find the ones that are best liked, accepted, and
shared. The strongest types of stimuli to consider are photos and meaningful
phrases
Immersion
This law states that the time required for a customer to make a decision is a direct function of the number of available choices. Too many choices are not a good design.
Try immersion.
A state of customer mental focus so great that
the awareness of the ‘real’ world is lost … resulting in happiness and
satisfaction.
Customer life cycle stages
All customer experiences progress through life cycle stages of existence … all of which must be understood and designed for. These stages include awareness, consideration, acquisition, service and warranty, and reconsideration.
The bottom line
Our job as marketers is to do the hard work of finding and nurturing charismatic ideas on customer experience we can be proud of. One place to start is to look at the ideas you’re trying to spread.
Consider whether they’re charismatic enough to earn the effort you’re putting into them–and if not, how to replace them with ideas that are.
Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer. Have you noticed how Zappos’s client experience really influences customers for brand marketing and consumer influence? More and more trying to astonish the customer. Certainly, a real discriminator, isn’t it? Today we will examine 10 different ways Zappos client experience is employed to stand out above the noise and become a significant contributor to brand marketing.
The end state quality of the product or service the customer receives is what counts. However, this Includes the experience the customer remembered while he purchased the item. Often that is what is remembered the most.
Here is a short video on an overview of customer experience.
My
theory is that if you gave the customer a choice between a coupon for 20% off
their next purchase or a fast and easy resolution to their problem, they’ll
choose the latter. Even if you surprise them with the gesture of a discount, it
won’t make up for the hassle they endured to get their problem resolved. In
other words, customers don’t want surprise
and delight. They just want delight.
There is a place for a surprise, but not when it comes to customer service. A great example of a surprise is a server at a restaurant who overhears that it is a couple’s anniversary, so they surprise the couple with complimentary champagne. That’s a pleasant surprise, unlike a surprise to make up for something unpleasant, such as having to wait on hold for a customer service agent to connect with you about a problem.
The
time to surprise is
when you have the chance to make a good situation even better. It adds to the
experience versus making up for a bad one. Otherwise, the consistent focus
should be on delight.
When you consistently focus on meeting and exceeding your customer’s
expectations,
they will be delighted. When there is a problem and you take care of it without
hassle and friction, they will be delighted.
Customer
service shouldn’t be a surprise. It should be what is hoped for, expected, and
delivered. The customer should never say, “I was surprised that I had a good
experience with them.” On the contrary, the customer should say, “It’s always a delight to do
business with them.”
What is the best customer experience design you have ever put to work for your business? We would love to hear about it. Would you do us a favor and tell us in the comments section? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
So what constitutes a great customer experience?
The quality of your company’s customer experience is ultimately determined by the way customers feel after their last interaction. If the customer is unhappy, your company’s customer experience is bad. If the customer doesn’t have a feeling one way or the other, your company’s customer experience is mediocre.
If the customer feels good, your company’s customer experience is satisfactory. But if the customer feels delighted, your company’s customer experience is a substantial competitive advantage. That is the only one that really matters to success. And the one everyone is attempting to find the magic for.
Feelings and emotions certainly have a significant role in the way customers influenced in the marketing process. Zappos and it’s the business culture of ‘delivering happiness’ certainly has established this as one of its distinct customer experience designs.
Related post: Random Acts of Kindness for Customer Experience Improvements
Employ customer experience … product presentation
Have you ever been in a Whole Foods grocery store? If you have you will remember the emphasis on the visual presentation of their products. Draws your eyes to many, even if you are not looking for them. Helping customers visualize and sometimes taste the products.
Zappos client experience … product trial usage
Zappos gets the customer involved in trying their skill with your different products. More and more businesses are building product trial engagements into their customer experience designs as discriminators.
Two of the best at this design approach are Bass Pro Shops and Legos, which often have become major attractions.
Zappos client experience … they engage all the senses
Starbucks is the master of the customer experience design of engaging all the senses. From the luring visual appeal of their stores to the coffee aroma to the new sound headset stages, and the unique tastes of their products, they engage all of your senses.
Zappos may not be Starbucks, but they consider how they can better engage customer senses in their experience.
Zappos client experience … immersion in product and the brand
Here what the brand represents surrounds the customer and positively influences everywhere they turn. The two best examples of brand immersion? You’ll surely recognize the Disney World and Legos brands in this regard.
Creating good feelings
When a business does something good for someone, that somebody feels good about them. Are you familiar with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream brand? They are leaders in this type of discrimination.
This example, while being traditional, will surprise you in the best brand in this discrimination category. Ever flown Jet Blue? Our favorite airline because of its great, unique discriminators.
Consider its high touch service, its Direct TV and XM radio and quality snacks. They are number 1 in our minds.
Customer collaboration
Zappos fostering ideas, intentions, and interests is their key to this experience. Dell and Starbucks are the standouts in this category with their long-standing use of customer crowdsourcing. Legos is also growing its crowdsourcing usage.
Giving customers the ability to create uniqueness in the product they want to purchase is a great way to discriminate between the product and the brand. This technique is probably the most difficult for most businesses to employ. The standout here is Nike and its NikeID product line.
Being very good at solving customer problems is a great way to create a good experience. Very needed in the technical product lines of computers and electronics, for example. The standout in this category is Best Buy with its Twelp Force and Geek Squad home services.
The bottom line
Here’s the thing, social isn’t just a new way of marketing, it’s really a new way of running a business. Many businesses certainly have figured this out and are using social marketing and improved customer experience to rapidly grow their business.
What is the best customer experience design you have ever put to work for your business? We would love to hear about it. Would you do us a favor and tell us in the comments section? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of customer experience as a key way to discriminate. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your creative, social marketing and customer experience efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your customer experience?
Do you have a lesson about making your customer experience better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on customer experience from our Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on, and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
