5 tips for designing delightful experiences
Your brand is only as strong as the experience of your brand.
We all could tell a story about a company we engaged with who said they were XYZ but then our interaction with them didn’t feel like what they said. The bottom line is that us brand and marketing people can have quite a way with words and creative. Ultimately though, that only really matters if it’s congruent with the experiences customers actually have in their interactions with the brand. It comes down to that old adage of show, don’t tell.
Creating process in business is par for the course — standard operating procedures and checklists are pretty foundational to ensuring that the varying processes within a business are conducted to get the job done accurately. But for whom are you getting the job done? The reality is most of us create these processes to accomplish what we need but we don’t necessarily think through it from the perspective of our customer. At Holbrook we think that’s a big missed opportunity.
Your brand is foundational to your business. If you’re not thinking about how to apply it to every aspect of your business, you’ve lost out on bringing it to life and creating congruency for those interacting with it. Is the very notion of this idea leaving you feeling overwhelmed? Here are four tips to help get you started in designing experiences that delight.
get clear on the customer journey
Think about a specific activity your customer does to engage with your company — buying on your website, submitting a complaint about a product, getting a request to leave a review, checking out at your retail location, etc. What does the step-by-step guide for your customer to engage with your company look like? How many steps are there? Are they all necessary? What does the customer’s journey look like before they engage with your company and after they’ve left?
KNOW THE CUSTOMER TASK
For each step in the process for the customer, ask yourself what the customer is trying to accomplish — what is the task they’re trying to complete. If a customer is signing up for an e-newsletter, their task might be to gain access to valuable information; in the case of buying on your website, their task might be to acquire a product that helps them solve a problem in their life.
LEVERAGE YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Our emotions are data and it’s helpful to understand what various emotions any one of us feel in a particular moment are telling us. Depending on the task a customer is trying to accomplish you’re likely able to determine the emotions they might feel in the process. The emotions a customer feels when submitting a complaint about a product are different than the emotions they feel when they receive a promotional email saying that you have a 50% off sale. The bottom line is identifying the emotions they may likely feel at any point in the process allows you to communicate that you see them in how you’ve designed the experience.
IDENTIFY THE PAIN
Understanding where there is pain allows us to do something about it, even when we’re not the ones who are creating it. If a customer is buying from your business, chances are you effectively marketed and sold to them that your product or service could help solve their problem. Much like we can identify the task that a customer is trying to accomplish in each step of a process, we can also identify the pain that they have in that step. The ability to do so gives us an opportunity to anticipate their needs.
actions speak louder than words
For each step in the customer journey and the task they are trying to accomplish, what are the actions that your business takes (in the background and/or customer-facing)? How does the action your customer takes align to your standard operating procedures for you and your staff? Does your business action(s) empathize with them and anticipate their needs? Is there a way to demonstrate your brand values or live your brand purpose in the process?
There are seemingly never-ending experiences your customers will have with your brand. That’s great news for creating brand moments but also a daunting undertaking. In prioritizing where to begin, it helps to think about what customers are most likely to remember about their interactions with a business — the beginning and the end. You have an opportunity to design experiences throughout their journey that delight them but starting with their onboarding and off boarding experience with your company focuses on where and what they are most likely to remember. Interested in working with Holbrook to align your customer experiences with your brand? We’d be delighted to help. Book a 15-minute consultation to learn more.
