Experienceology: Customer experience definitions: The finale

To wrap up this series on defining the customer experience, I’d like to synthesize some of the notable aspects of the posts here and on the other blogs (listed below in the order they appeared in the original posts).

I started out by sharing a short version of my definition of customer experience as being inside/outside. Inside the customer are all their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. As Adam pointed out, a customer’s feelings and emotions can be greatly influenced, especially through theatrical techniques (and the consumer psychology persuasion techniques that make up most marketing strategies today). Marianna gave a lovely explanation of this influencing technique by suggesting that we need to define what kind of experience we are trying to achieve, i.e. are you selling confidence, success, rejuvenation, excitement, or peace of mind? Helene thinks that we are trying to help customers feel good about themselves, while Pamela suggested we are trying to seduce customers into buying.

Outside the customer is the designed experience, every aspect of our environments, processes, and products. Becky provided a cradle-to-the-grave metaphor to illustrate the completeness of how we should be approaching our customer relationship, which reminds me both of the lifetime-value-of-a-customer work of Peppers and Rogers (no accident that she used to work with them) and of the South Bark Dog Wash here in San Diego, who want to serve customers for the entire life of a pet.

While Susan has a more complete description of this outside approach than simply “removing irritants” (which is just the part of our podcast conversation I quoted), several people noted that while removing irritants was important it didn’t go far enough. Mark’s “efficiency” concept (indicating a well-run experience) ties in here, but note that he also includes "aesthetics" (design) and "meaning" (emotions) as necessary for a complete experience.

Sara also talked about design: designing a positive peak and a positive ending to the experience. This positive ending ties in with Adam’s comment about the experience lasting after they’ve left your business, as he thinks we should be creating memories and using memorabilia to create lasting impressions.

And I certainly agree, the last step of my 8-step process is the Finale, and I have an entire chapter in my new book devoted to the importance of creating a great last impression and choosing memorabilia for impact and what psychologists call "place attachment.” C.B.’s post about walking in her shoes adds another way of looking at designing the full experience and thinking through every single aspect of what you offer.

Tip of the day: Recognize first that you aren’t selling products, culture, or services, you are trying to influence people. Fixing what’s broken or irritating people is a great first step. Stepping back and looking at what kind of experience you are trying to achieve might be next. Going through each aspect of your experience as if you are the customer will help pinpoint where you can improve. And, designing or re-designing elements to evoke an emotional response and create memories might be the highest level of customer experience we can create.

Thanks to all the bloggers who participated!