Solis - X: the experience when business meets design

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Copyright 2015 by Brian Solis. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Solis, Brian.

X : the experience when business meets design / Brian Solis.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-45654-5 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-52639-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-52680-4 (ebk)

1. Branding (Marketing) 2. Internet marketing. 3. Customer relations. 4. Web sites--Design. I. Title.

HF5415.1255.S6497 2015

658.827--dc23

2015022448

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1.0

THIS IS X

EXPERIENCE IS THE NEW BRAND. EXPERIENCES ARE THE NEW BRANDING.

THE FUTURE IS EXPERIENCE.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

Albert Einstein

CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR A MOMENT AND THINK ABOUT THE LAST TIME YOU TRULY HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH A COMPANY AS A CONSUMER, AN EXPERIENCE THAT CAPTURED YOUR HEART, MIND, AND SPIRIT.

WHAT ABOUT IT WAS SPECIAL?

LETS CALL IT XTHAT JE NE SAIS QUOI THAT MAKES SOMETHING SO SPECIAL.

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT X, CREATING SUCH MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH EVERY ENCOUNTER THEY HAVE WITH YOUR BRANDALL DAY, EVERY DAY.

What is X?

In math, x represents a variable to be solved for. In business, the x we must solve for is the experience we want to give our customers. Of course, the idea that businesses should focus on customer experience isnt new. But weve entered a new era in experience creation, and businesses that dont learn to craft much more satisfying experiences for their customers have a great deal to lose.

In 1998, B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore published a controversial essay in the Harvard Business Review heralding the era of The Experience Economy. They put forward the idea that businesses should creatively orchestrate memorable events for their customers, and those experiences, and the memories they instilled, would become part of the product and brand. Pine and Gilmore defined experience this way: An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event.

They used two great examples, which are oldies but goodies, showcasing how Chuck E. Cheese and the Discovery Zone were pioneers in productizing experiences. Both companies created complete ecosystems that enchanted children, and equally as important allowed parents to become heroes for having taken their kids there. They both, however, stopped trying to compete for relevance as consumers changed and, as such, the experience becomes dated.

Since then a great deal more has been written about the value of offering customers superior experiences. Apple showed how to do so masterfully with the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and its rich experience ecosystem, built right into the product. Yet few companies have followed effectively in Apples footsteps even though everyone talks about doing so. So many still choose to increase profitability or tolerate mediocrity at the expense of the experience, even though its been clearly demonstrated that consumers will pay a premium for a better experience.

We know that giving our customers delightful experiences is important, and as consumers, we know the quality of experiences we want. So why is it that when we get into work, we lose this customer perspective?

Part of the problem is that how to go about creating truly meaningful experiences for customers is still so little understood. Who in business hasnt heard the mantra, Customer experience is the new competitive advantage? But has anyone actually told you how to design experiences, or articulated exactly what the standard for a good experience is? People in different silos of a company will give different answers about how to deliver on experience. Product managers will say, Design great products. Customer relations managers will say, Make customer service matter again! Those in marketing will focus on creative campaigns and branding.

This book introduces a transformative approach to customer experiences by design: human-centered experience architecture. This approach defines customer experience as the sum of all customer engagements in each touch-point and every moment of truth throughout the customer lifecycle.

Experience architecture is the art of engendering desired emotions, outcomes, and capabilities throughout the customer journey. It is the process of strategically designing and strengthening a customers entire spectrum of interactions with a product or company.

Creating a great customer experience used to require that companies merely present information and functionality in a usable, efficient, and enjoyable manner. But this is no longer enough. Customers are placing greater demands not just on products and services, but on the ongoing experiences that their interactions with companies offer. If they cant get what they want, theyll hack their way to it.