This post has been adapted from CH 6: Aiming for Remarkable, Unbroken, and Generous Design in The Experience Design Blueprint.
No matter your title or role you are involved in customer experience. As a consumer yourself, sometimes you just want things to work. They don’t always need to be remarkable; they do need to be reliable, predictable, dependable, and above all unbroken.
Examples include the checkout line at the grocery store, driving in traffic, filling a glass of water from the tap, sitting down on a chair, walking up steps, riding your bicycle, riding in an elevator, making a phone call, returning a product, getting warranty service, filing an insurance claim, visiting the dentist, starting your car, etc. Unbroken – that is what is needed.
And, if you do work with or for an organization that serves customers then no doubt your organization has provided services to more customers than any one customer has received services from your organization. Organizations simply deal with more customers than the other way around. This is true whether you manufacture shoes, houses, boats or meals or you sell cars, financial services, run a nonprofit, or a government agency.
With this tremendous upper hand of knowledge you have an opportunity to help your future customers prevent mistakes that you’ve witnessed previous customers make. Leveraging this knowledge and helping customers avoid broken experiences can be simple as the example in Figure 6.5 shows.
Figure 6.5 Home Furnishings Store Provides Customers with Twine in Loading Area
This home furnishings store recognizes the customer’s experience doesn’t end at the point of sale terminal. They provide twine to those customers in the loading area who may not have thought to bring any, or to those who made an unplanned purchase too large to fit inside their vehicle. The store doesn’t have to provide twine and they probably wouldn’t be frowned upon for not providing it. After all, it is an oversight on the part of the customer. But, why let a broken experience occur with prediction when a little forethought and action can fully prevent it?
Your forethought is an insurance policy against broken experiences that your future customers may have.
Your forethought is an insurance policy against broken experiences that your future customers may have. Treat the situation the same as if your customer were a child wandering toward traffic in a busy intersection. Of course, you’d intervene and help them out.
This example was about twine and purchasing home furnishings, but it could be about any product or service. Other examples that come to mind include business travel, financial services, renovation, construction projects, vacations, trade shows, creating a campaign, fundraising, launching products, and even change initiatives and major projects. And, remember your customers might be external customers or those internal to the organization – other departments, disciplines, or even channel partners.
Recipe #16: Be Smooth
Think about what you might provide your customers (internal and external) at a time that is convenient and appropriate to smooth their journey. Then smile and take solace in knowing you’ve prevented a broken experience they may never even think about. In Chapter 7, we look more at the “smoother filter” that you can apply to customer journeys.
about the author
Gregory Olson’s latest book is L’ impossi preneurs: A Hopeful Journey Through Tomorrow, a light-hearted and deadly serious book about a brighter future where we live more meaningful lives, governments invest in people and sustainable progress, and technology serves humans. Greg also authored The Experience Design Blueprint, a book about designing better experiences and then making them come true.
Gregory Olson founded strategy and design firm Delightability, LLC. with the belief that if you delight customers then success will follow. He believes that we all have the potential to do better, as individuals, organizations, and communities, but sometimes we need a little help. Gregory also serves as a volunteer board member for Oikocredit Northwest, a support association for social and impact investor, Oikocredit International.