A Focus on Experiences for Differentiated Customer Experience
Let’s lay some foundation... Feelings, impressions, and lessons learned from first-hand engagement in an activity, event, or interaction. That seems very foundational for “experience”. I’m sure some would prefer subtle spins or maybe a grand expansion, but it will work here.
As I got to noodling on the subject, I was intrigued by how few people or things actually claimed to be an Experience. Let’s look at some famous “Experiences”, all very different, and see what can be extracted for application in delivering a differentiated Customer Experience.
The Jimmy Hendrix Experience (TJHE)
Top of mind descriptors – rock, virtuoso, psychedelic. Closed eyes visions – showmanship, Fender Strat, the colors man (couldn’t resist). Here’s a band, so profound, that 50 years later a large group of all-star guitarists are actively touring as Experience Hendrix. What set TJHE off/apart and really locked them in was their connection to the fans. Whomever you talk to or whatever you watch or read, there seems to have been an undeniable connection. Music has an obvious harmonic quality for connection, but more than that, TJHE set expectations (some might say delivered themes) which enabled the fans to navigate seemingly mind-blowing avenues of musical exploration. Think of the expectations like a map or roadmap for on-the-fly navigation of the forthcoming musical avenues. When communicated in advance, it was “on”. When not, some fans got confused and critics would chime in on angles like solo-to-nowhere vs actual songs.
Who delivered these expectations or themes, how did the players interact, where, … a lot of this seems to gravitate into culture and style. Out of the gate, members of TJHE seemed to have strong common interests (certainly musically, and likely beyond). These common interests laid the foundation for working together. The more expressive their creations, the more deeper (philosophical) alignment or differences could make or break a particular song/jam. Counterbalancing various philosophies here is raw talent (and the sheer excitement and lift from it). Whew… that’s heady… so now that you’ve got the goulash, how did they plate the food… In other words, TJHE could be good wearing board shorts playing at a Cantina, they could be really good acoustic in jeans at the local playhouse, but they were amazing wearing velour on an elevated stage with a wall of amps at their back. It’s not just context, it’s ambiance.
Setting expectations and communicating themes are internally driven. Constructing environment to deliver ambiance feels calculable. Let’s look external. There was a transformation happening. Rock music was moving beyond a teenage fad and into the mass market. Meaning, metrics people, professional financiers, promoters… all saw the business potential and wanted their slice. Early-on, TJHE was expressing itself without the influence of contractual albums, and probably their time-bound obligations. Certainly without corporate P&L ramifications. While all that comes with commercial success, to an artist it may be head-wind. Then again, going higher faster farther cuts through wind. To what extent was the market-based pressures (e.g. write a song that sounds more like hits - Hey Jude, Magic Carpet Ride...) impugning the next great jam offspring? We’ll never know, but we do know there was an imbalance… not enough of this, too much of that… which led to the end. To an artist, it’s a current issue (e.g. Chris Cornell), but some jam band era successes like internet-based fan communities and the packaging within (e.g. early access, premium seating, exclusive content, …) have vastly improved the connection between artists and fans.
Star Trek: The Experience (STTE)
If you attended any tech trade shows around the Las Vegas Convention Center in the late 90s through nearly 2010, you certainly had a colleague who visited STTE. Climb aboard your favorite starship and join the next generation crew for an interactive multi-modal adventure (… or something like that). Right up front, multi-modal. Doing a quick sensory engagement comparison to TJHE, I rank them:
Visually, STTE was stunning. In many ways, it was like stepping into the TV show. The characters and bridge were spot-on. Being able to interact with the set, baked into the story-line, was certainly engaging. However, when the ship took fire, air blasted onto you, and smoked billowed in, all within the story-line, that’s when it went next level – immersion. To breakdown the transition into immersion, it was that moment when being on a ride became being in a ride. To that point, the various sensory input was being treated in a somewhat silo-ed fashion. But then, perception switched to where the entire space and conditions (i.e. environment) became something to immediately contend with (though no action was actually required). Cool huh.
Is there something in incrementally engaging a spatial balance or proprioception sense as that tipping point into immersion? Is there an incremental scent that evokes visual colors to a dancing concert… synestesia?
Let’s not overlook the story-line. Prior to entering there was ample preface provided so you had a contextual basis. If memory serves, this was done in a phased approach. A high-level overview to start, followed by a segue into the full experience. Like a lift or hallway onto the bridge.
Thinking about that tech trade show… did people go to STTE alone? Sure, some did. However, many likely tried to rally the troops to come along. Like anything, I’m sure some were stoked, while others were more about coming along for the camaraderie. Knowing that the stoked lot may want more or perhaps the perception of special treatment (maybe in a follow-on trip with the fam), STTE offered a special behind the scenes tour with “secrets unveiled”. This came with conditions and perks like no photos, guestbook, certificate (date, tour number, signature of guide), and keep the VIP badge.
This special access (really premium) is another form of immersion. Much like the backstage pass of a concert goer, there’s a feeling of cachet in having premium access. Who doesn’t love a value equation on “premium”?
Dolphin Care Experience (DCE)
Did you see the Dolphin Tale movies? Winter, the dolphin saved by development of a prosthetic tail (and a whole lot of TLC). Great stories. Among many others, my niece loved them. So much so, she motivated my sister to take her from California to Florida to do the DCE.
The Dolphin Tale movies are quite inspiring and not just to young kids that love dolphins. A large number of people with disabilities had strong emotional connection to Winter and her tale. They also make up a significant number of people who come to DCE. Another strong relational connection, but slightly less obvious, is with inventors/problem solvers. One need only see the prosthetic dolphin tail schematic on a tee shirts to appreciate this. Layer on a passion for dolphins or marine related items and you may find yourself on a path to volunteer or even aspire to work there.
Different from the previous Experiences, DCE is rooted in education. After all, the details of where and how Winter was rehabilitated, moreover where and how she lives, is at the heart of the movies. One of the first call-outs at DCE is that Winter lives in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and has been cared for at their marine rehabilitation center. Right upfront, there’s a conceptual upscaling from Dolphin to Marine which can’t be understated. The naming dramatically expands the scope of the forthcoming Experience.
Of course, my niece was super motivated to see Winter, but “marine”… what’s that all about!? Well, there are also turtles, otters, rays, … and all in need of help provided here. Wow, interesting… oh, hey, where’s Winter?? The type of help Winter and her fellow Marine life receive becomes a very relational and heartfelt engagement. There is a careful balancing act in the presentation of material. An interweaving of science/logic and care/emotion.
By the time you see your impetus or inspiration for coming, you’ve possibly developed a broader appreciation or perhaps a specific connection to additional residents of the marine aquarium. The decrescendo or egress of DCE is an arts & crafts area (to make your own memories) and then to the gift shop with proceeds going to the animals or mammals (in Winter’s case).
Extractions and Application Examples
Establish expectations. At a minimum, guidance. If you’re too light, your customers are far less likely to follow along as closely or as deeply as possible. This need not be as prosaic as a table of contents, but some type of preface that is either stand-alone robust enough or quickly supported by a navigable progression. Imagine if you called up a company and hit their aging IVR (phone menu), but instead, they said ‘welcome to our aging IVR, you can either endlessly listen to menus only to get frustrated and smash zero or simply say what you want and get right to it (e.g. natural language translator, voice bot...). Moreover, what if the entire IVR tree was on the Contact Us page and you could either click to exactly where you wanted to go or dial directly to it. Simple examples to implement, almost too obvious to write, but surprisingly not widely deployed.
Create connections. Almost the opposite of - it’s not personal it’s business. If it can become personal to the customer, you’re far more likely to realize improved outcomes. In all these Experiences, a connection was developed via a familiarity or relational quality. I certainly don’t want to take anything away from Personalization and all the potential benefits access to unbridled volumes of big data can bring (e.g. my broker’s mobile app extracted my latest Pandora station creation and voila’ my broker is offering me front-row Foo Fighter tickets while I’m all thumbs up on his survey form… absolutely not at all quid pro quo), but these Experiences made connections through treatable themes.
Immerse them. It’s certainly possible to be engrossed in a verbal discussion or even a text message exchange, however, immersion seems to require a combination of modalities including ones that use invoke non-traditional senses. Look, my Oculus Rift for VR is in high-use and I’ve had more than one cool AR demo in the last week. These technologies should absolutely be hovering around your drawing board, if not in-play to some extent somewhere around you. However, there are some easy ways to get started where a better understanding of current customer behavior can auto-generate action (e.g. chat bot) or suggest action (e.g. to sales, support… agents). You may find these marketed as AI, but don’t be deterred, these are straight-forward implementations and make a definable positive operational impact.
Community and premium access. Invariably, there are people closer to you, your products, your direction. If you can engage them with other similarly close people, great! However, if you can bring them into your culture and style, that’s even better. If it’s not too cliche’, let’s call them influencers of your evolution (product, roadmap, messaging, …). Perhaps that’s where your premium value equation kicks in. They undoubtedly see something in it for them and may, in turn, be the basis of how premium access gets defined (e.g. club, event, exclusive… worthwhile investment). FWIW, this is a great NPS referral crowd. The metrics can be spectacular.