MARKETING MMOEMm

8 M3J0.3

hy Lewis P. Carhone and Stcphan H. Haeckel

Engineering CustomerExoeriences

When it comes to repeat business, some managers are clueless.

Customers always get more than theybargain for. because a product or ser-vice always comes with an experience.By "experience." we mean the "take-away" impression formed by people's

encounters with products, services, and business-es—a perception produced when humans consoli-date sensory information.

We constantly filter a barrage of clues, organiz-ing them into a set of impressions—some of themrational, some emotional. These impressions canbe very subtle—even subliminal—or extremelyobvious. They may occur by happenstance or bypurposeful design. They may exist as isolatedepisodes or as managed suites. Collectively, theybecome an experience.

Experience clues may be either performance- orcontext-based. Pertbrmance clues relate to thefunction of the product or sei'vice—e.g.. the bankdid or did not dispense the right amount of cash ortbe razor did or did not give a close, smooth shave.But over and above the performance of the service,context clues are telegraphed by the appearance ofthe ATM (or the demeanor of the teller); by thedecor, smell, cleanliness, and privacy of the loca-tion; by the legibility of the print on the receipt;and by a host of other signals. Similarly, the cluesgenerated by the way the razor shaves are comple-mented by clues sent out by its look, smell, feel,and sound as well as from the people and things inthe environment when a customer inquires about,buys, pays for. uses, and maintains it.

Unmanaged. these clues may cancel eachother out and leave no net impression on the cus-tomer, or worse, induce a strong net negative per-

ception. But if systematically crafted into a posi-tive net impression, tbe clues promote customerpreference, which a company can leverage to dif-ferentiate otherwise commodity-like productsand services.

Engineering an experience begins with thedeliberate setting of a targeted customer perceptionand results in the successful registration of that per-ception in the customer's mind. Systematicallydesigning and orchestrating the signals generatedby products, services, and the environment is themeans to that end.

Our designs are represented by a pictorial blue-print. When implemented, the blueprint establishes

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

C ustomers always get an experience along witha product or service. That experience may be

good or bad, lasting or fleeting, a random phenom-enon or an engineered perception. Companies re-engineering their businesses should think aboutincorporating ciLstomer experience into their btisi-ness design. Some emerging concepts, principles,ond techniques for designing e.xperiences can helpe.stablish customer preference. The first step is toelevate the process of creating differentiated cus-tomer experiences from a highly intuitive art forminto a management discipline.

EXHIBIT I

Engineering an experience

Customer is bombardedby chies radiating fromproducts, services andthe enviromnent.

Negative clues areeliminated. Contextclues (mechanicsand bumanics) arespecified andsequenced in apictorial design.

The clues buildupon and rein-force each other toestablish a target-ed, preference-cre-ating customerperception.

a specific "take-away" customer impression thatengenders preference (see Exhibit 1).

One experience we recently designed for aregional retail chain showed impressive payoff,even before any store implemented even 10% ofthe clues in the design. Comparative systemwideyear-to-year sales increased for the first time in9 years, and have continued to do so for 22 con-secutive weeks. Shopper attitudes haveimproved demonstrably, as measured against abaseline prior to engineering any clues, and theaverage sale per customer visit has increasedsignificantly.

Orchestrating ExperienceSeveral paths cun lead to customer preference:

the product's performance, the service's perfor-mance, and the experience that context clues cre-ate (see Exhibit 2). Experience management isprimarily concerned with the systematic designand implementation of the context clues that areemitted by the product and/or service and theenvironment; it is, therefore, distinct from(though it should be related to) product and ser-vice design.

Sometimes a product or service design explicit-ly incorporates context clues—such as engineeringthe distinct sound of a door closing on a MercedesBcnz. In fact, products such as fashion clothing

and services such as entertainment typically incor-porate more context than performance clues intheir design. The design of a total experienceorchestrate.s the context created by prt)ducts andservices, as well as the environment in which cus-tomers acquire, use, and maintain them.

People are naturally inclined to prefer pleasant,uplifting "special" experiences, and examplesabound that demonstrate the important and lastingeffect an experience can have on an individual. Aphysician's "bedside manner." for example, is acollection of clues that not only influences apatient's choice of a physician, but also mayenhance or undermine confidence, motivation, andultimately the effectiveness of treatment.

Purposeful DesignThe late Walt Disney is a prime exemplar of a

visionary with exceptional perceptiveness whoconsciously embedded dues in his cartoons andtheme parks to create the unique Disney experi-ence. The Disney Co.. perhaps better than anyother firm, understands the value of purposefullystimulating as many senses as possible. When thecompany hosted an indoor "beach party" for thepress at one of its hotels, for example, the settingincluded sand, the smell of suntan oil. a boardwalkarcade, music, lighting, the sound of surt\ and otherclues to produce an overall impression of a beachenvironment.

Such detailed focus on sensory clue design

Engineering Customer Experiences

extends to each of Disney's park attractions, andto the parks as a whole. As you enter the MagicKingdom, for instance, your senses pick up animportant clue that most people never consciouslyregister: The street is inclined and the buildingfacades are sloped to produce a "Hollywood" per-spective, making Main Street appear longer than itreally is.

At the beginning of your Magic Kingdomexperience, the prospect of a stroll down a fairlylong street to the Castle seems inviting, giventhe many attractions packed together on eachside of the street. But the opposite perspective—looking down Main Street from the Castletoward the train station (entrance/exit)—makesthe street look shorter than it is, which comes asa relief to most people after a long day. It alsoserves the dual purpose of allevialing a poten-tially major transportation problem for Disney,because only a limited number of buses can beput in service.

In addition, frequently painted sidewalks sendoff high-maintenance and cleanliness clues at Dis-ney parks; weaving lines provide a people-watch-ing opportunity; a trash container is always inview, sending a message that littering is not OKhere; and the estimated wait times posted at eachattraction set expectation levels that are regularlyimproved upon in actuality.

These are a small sample of the tens of thou-sands of service experience clues carefully planted

EXHIBIT 2

in Walt Disney's theme parks. The positive experi-ence of most guests has been scripted well inadvance of their arrival.

The 'Naturals'Some people seem to be "naturals" at orches-

trating experiences. In addition to Disney, severalother individuals have institutionalized their per-sonal concepts of special experiences:

• McDonald's founder Ray Kroc has elevatedcleanliness to a corporate obsession.

• Satisfaction Guaranteed Eateries' founderTimothy Firnstahl conceptualizes his restau-rant business as an "excuse" for making hiscustomers happy.

• Bames & Noble's founder Leonard Riggiosees shopping as a form of entertainment.

A mass-produced experience, with fries.Ray Kroc successfully institutionalized his per-sonal dedication to providing customers a uni-form dining experience in a spotlessly clean envi-ronment. Kroc's view that McDonald's was inthe business of selling experiences, not hamburg-ers, led him to orchestrate the specific experiencehe wanted his customers to have. He made thekitchen visible to customers to show off its clean-liness and positioned the beverage, French fry.

How clues affect customer preference

CUSTOMER ATTITWERejection Neutrality Preference

CONWCr CLUES

PERFORMANCE CLUES

Quaiit)- Programs

Defect Elimination Experience EngineeringPreference Creation

and hamburger stations to choreograph employeemovement and suggest speed—"fast" food.

This design was replicated in every one of hisrestaurants, in effect, mass-producing the McDon-ald's experience. To maintain the uniformity ofthis experience, he tlew American potatoes to Parisevery day to ensure that his "French" fries tastedthe same on the Champs Elysees as they did onMain Street U.S.A.

Guaranteed happiness. Timothy Firnstahl,self-styled "zealot" when it comes to creatinguplifting experiences for the customers of hisrestaurants, promises them: "Your EnjoymentGuaranteed. Always." In his retaurant trainingmanual, he tells employees that if a customerdoesn't like her salad, the response should not be,"We'll replace it," but rather, "We really regretyour inconvenience and want to make you happy."

He goes t)n to instmct and empower employeeswith the following: "By all means, give her theI new I salad free of charge. But buy her a drink ordessert as well—or whatever else it takes to makeher happy." in Firnstahl's mind, success in therestaurant business comes from happy customers,not satified customers.

Take a page from this bookseller. LeonardRiggii), tbunder and CEO of Barnes & Noble, theNo. I book.seller in the United States, has realizedhis vision of shopping-as-entertainment in thedesign of his superstores^—upscale, sophisticated,wood-rich, library-like, people-watching, family-oriented, "feel-good" public gathering spaces. Thedesign objective is to keep people enjoying them-selves in a superstore for two hours at a time.

Company CFO Irene Miller, told Fortime mag-a/.ine that "The feel-good part of the store, thequality-of-life contribution, is a big part of [our]success." And security analysts, whom one mightexpect to look with disfavor on large capitalinvestments that drive down sales-per-square-footratios, expect the stores to retum 28% on theinvestment made in them.

Disney, Kroc, Firnstahl, and Riggio created andmanaged service clues to engineer what their cus-tomers expect from, and feel about, their compa-nies. Except for Firnstahl. they are mass-producingcommon experiences. But we expect mass-cus-tomized personal experiences—like the productsand services they surround—to become prevalentby the year 2000. as technology makes this an eco-nomically feasible option.

Design PrinciplesCapitalizing on customer experience to create

preference on a broad scale calls for new manage-ment disciplines and tools. There simply won't be

enough "naturals" to go around—any more thanthere were enough Fords, Watsons, Vails, andSloans to manage all of the successful product-centric firms of the industrial era.

A systematic approach to creating, implement-ing, and measuring the impact of experience cluesis needed that:

• Is based on a set of principles differentiatingthe essential from the optional, and wbat islikely to work from what is not.

• Incorporates a robust methodology,

• Establishes a symbolic mechanism for com-municating the customer experience designthroughout the organization.

The following is a description of some emerg-ing concepts and principles of experience engineer-ing as well as a method for applying tbem to yourproducts and services.

People are properlywary of beingmanipulated, and aclumsy style can senda negative clueabout that.

Assume Control, With StyleDisney takes control of a visitor's experience at

The Magic Kingdomfrom the moment he orshe exits Interstate 4 inOrlando, Fla, The wayan experience-providerassumes and exercisescontrol establishes itsstyle. Boldness or sub-tlety, commands or sug-gestions, politeness orbluntness, personal orimpersonal are but a few of the many choices thatmust be made in setting a service design.

But the "Pixie-Dust" nature of clues appropriateto a Disney theme park differs markedly from tbe"Confident Experts at Work" clues suitable for ahospital operating room.

Style must be consistent with the targeted per-ception of the experience, and should not comeacross as manipulative. People are properly waryof being manipulated, and a clumsy style can itselfsend a negative clue about that.

Of course, companies run a risk that the very actof engineering a pleasant experience might be con-sidered manipulative. But we have found thai cus-tomers' reactions to engineered experiences aresimilar to their reactions to another person's got)dmanners: A perception of "hypocritical" or "gen-uine" depends largely upon the style with whiehthey are delivered.

Although great leverage can be gained if cluechoices are made consciously and systematicallyrather than by whimsy, style often will determine

12 UlHo.3 IMRKITING MMAGEMm

Engineering Customer Experiences

"Humanics" cluesare engineered by

defining andchoreographing thedesired behavior of

employees.

in which direction the leverage works.

Mechanics and HumanicsThere are two types of context clues. "Mechan-

ics" are the sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and tex-tures generated by things, for example, landscap-ing, graphics, scents, recorded music, handrail sur-faces, and so on. In contrast, "humanics" cluesemanate from people. They are engineered bydefining and choreographing the desired behaviorof employees involved in the customer encounter.

Managers have a fairly good understanding ofmechanics clues because they are often an importantpart of product design—the shape, quiet operation,colors, smells, and textures of a new car. for exam-

ple. Not as obvious, per-haps, is the extent towhich new technologiescan enhance the range andimpact of mechanics.

We are using new 3Mtechnology for scentmanagement in some ofour experience designs.3M is now looking at thepotential of "experience

management systems" that can be readily turnedinto customized sound and smell clues. This isimportant, because nothing is more evocative ofcertain experiences than sounds and smells. (Any-one who hears a certain song from his or her highschool days is subject to instant and involuntaryflashback.) Without doubt, opportunities aboundfor skilled experience engineers to create "signa- •ture scents and sounds" for particular brands ofmovie theaters, hotel lobbies, commuter train cars,computers, and virtually any other object or space.

Humanics determine the interpersonal relation-ships in a buying experience—how employees makecustomers feel. In many firms today, humanics cre-ation is either not managed at all or is implicitly del-egated to employees. But empowering personnel todeal with customer problems "on the spot" is unlike-ly to have consistent success unless employees areselected for. and trained in. the highly intuitive skillsneeded to sense customer reactions to serviceencounter clues and respond appropriately.

Disney's training program is an example of suc-cessful on-the-job behavior modification. Employ-ees audition for roles, don costumes, work witbprops, and rehearse extemporaneously "in charac-ter." When they are at work, they are on stage. Infact, Disney engineers the work experience of itsemployees by carefully crafting their roles toinclude picking up specific signals from cus-tomers" behavior and responding in specified ways.

Humanics are most effective when they areintegrated with mechanics. In a recent retail ser-

vice experience engineering project, for example,we determined that the payment experience had asignificantly higher positive impact on tbe percep-tions of departing customers when the serviceemployee looked them in the eye. We designed asimple mechanics clue to trigger an appropriatehumanics clue. We added a few dummy keys tothe register and modified the checkout software sothat a customer's contract doesn't print until thedummy key labeled with the color of the cus-tomer's eyes is depressed.

Needless to say, tbe effectiveness of thisdesign^—and of al! humanics clues—is directlyrelated to employee skills and "buy-in." wbich alsocan be engineered.

The hospitality industry affords many examplesofthe way bumanics and mechanics service cluescan work together to leave a trail of favorableimpressions. Some hotels make it a practice tosculpt a copy of their logo in the sand when theyclean their floor-standing ash trays. This simplemechanics clue accomplishes two things. First, itallows management to monitor the activities ofhourly employees, ensuring that they take care ofimportant details and leave behind tangible evi-dence that they bave done so. The logo in the sandalso communicates to guests that the companytakes pride in paying attention to detail, that man-agement is dedicated to keeping the property clean,and that littering is inappropriate.

Thematic 'Sticktion'"Sticktion" is a term 3M engineers use to

describe a design point between abrasion and slip-page that should exist when a magnetic head"reads" information by sensing the magnetic parti-cles on a tape. In the context of experience manage-ment, it refers to a limited number of special cluesthat arc sufficiently remarkable to be registered andremembered for some time, witbout being abrasive.Sticktion stands out in the experience, but does notoverpower it; well-designed, it is botb memorableand related to the "motif" ofthe experience.

A motif is a .succinct, verbal characledzation ofthe desired take-away customer perception. "Extra-ordinary people," "classy treatment." "stale-of-the-art," "come back again." "special," "friendly." "pait-nership," and "no sweat" are some of tbe cboicesmade by companies with which we have worked.

Sticktion can be very powerful in generatingand perpetrating the kinds of myths and legendsbuilt up over decades around icons sucb as Disney,Nordstrom's, AT&T. IBM, Wal-Mart, and otherswbo benefited from an enormous amount of favor-able word-of-mouth advertising. !l is the "talkabili-ty" of sticktion. along witb sustained quality oftheservices and products it promotes, that perpetuatesan exceptional reputation.

In developing a Service Experience Blueprint""'for a large regional grocery chain, we establishedan "Expectant Mother Parking" .service clue^aspecial, preferred parking space for expectantmothers, signaling tbat the company cares aboutthis kind of customer.

To test the clue, the company planted a proto-type signpost featuring an outline of a stork in aparking spot near the entrance of one of its stores.While the company was preparing to research theimpact of this service clue, a ItK-al newspaper ran astory with a picture of the Expectant Mother Park-ing space. The story generated complimentary let-ters to the editor, which led Iwal radio and TV sta-tions to pick it up. Then a big city newspaper fea-tured an article on its front page—with photos—and CNN and the wire services followed suit. Fur-ther research into the question of whether or notthat particular clue created sticktion was not reallynecessary.

The objective of sticktion is to catalyze positivestories: "They actually offered to deliver thatswimming suit to me at the airport," "She insistedon giving me a refund, even though I'd worn theshirts for four months." "My hotel room dooropened when I walked up to it, and it wouldn't foranyone else." "Their maintenance people wear tiesand carry briefcases," "They have special parkingplaces for expectant mothers." Such seeds, if culti-vated over a long enough period, can propagatemeaningful preference.

But these clues also can backfire if they are notpart of a designed experience. Dramatic, isolatedgestures—such as driving 300 miles to get a spe-cial brand of ketchup for a transient customer —only add expense and perhaps a reputation foreccentricity. Sticktion is not effective when it con-sists of a few exceptional clues embedded in awelter of negatives. It can also be negative in andof itself, e.g.. rusty shopping ciuis or a foul-tem-pered clerk.

One example of how a planted clue can backfirewas demonstrated by a fast-food chain that decidedto position a butcher shop at the front of its food ser-vice operation. The intent was to generate "freshnessclues," which it did, but its overall sticktion wasnegative because customers had to look at bloodysides of beef hanging on hooks just prior to eatingtheir hamburger.

Positive sticktion must ride on a firm foundationof consistency, in the encounter experience as wellas in the product performance. And. like otherclues, it has cost^enefit attributes that must be partof the design decision process.

Integrate Process and Experience DesignsThe process of designing preference-creating

experiences must be intimately related to the moti-

Customerexpectations, productperformance, service

experience cluesall reinforce oneanotber.

vational. training, financial, and operational busi-ness processes of a company. For example, if notreinforced by a complementary employee motiva-tional scheme, experience designs can easilybecome sterile signposts of an experience thatexists only in the designers' imaginations.

Business process design entails the identificationand sequencing of tasks,resources, decisions, andhuman accountabilitiesthat defme the behaviorsneeded to run the business.To them can be addedprocesses for delivering delivery andthe humanics and mechan- ^'ics that establish a differ-entiating experience alongwith the product or ser-vice. Experience designteams should thereforeinclude individuals with expertise in business design,so that customer expectations, prtxluct peribrmancc.service delivery, and experience clues all reinfoare oneanother.

Sometimes the result can be synergistic in astartling way. A clue designed to create stickiionat one of the stores in a grocery chain ended upchanging the entire service design. The clue wasa wine-tasting booth run by a knowledgeablewine stewardess who served samples andanswered questions two days a week. Within fourmonths of implementation, that particular storebecame one of the largest retail wine outlets inthe entire region. What was created as a human-ics in an experience design turned out to be a ser-vice component that unleashed a substantiallatent demand.

Because of such potential for synergy, webelieve that business design/transformation/re-engineering projects are only half complete ifthey do not incorporate tbe design of customerexperiences—especially in the case of servicescompanies.

A Systematic ApproachA four-phase process has proved effective for us

in applying the principles of experience engineer-ing to situations ranging from shopping at retail tobuilding a home.

• Phase 1: Acquisition of service experiencedesign skills.

• Phase II: Data collection and analysis.

• Phase III: Service clue design.

14 U3M3 MARKETING mmEMENJ

Engineering Customer Experiences

• Phase IV: Implementation and verification.

Acquiring SkillsWe begin by assembling a team with representa-

tives from all the major functions and operationalprocesses ofthe business, making certain to includea large complement of people who have day-to-daycontact with customers. This "horizontal" groupcUuifies the experience that will be delivered.

The experience is then evaluated against a num-ber of criteria to identify an over-arching theme(the motif) and isolate those places where sticktioncould support tbis motif.

The team is educated on the concepts andmethodology of engineering customer experi-ences. A major objective is to sensitize teammembers to recognize and evaluate tbe impact ofservice clues. Beyond this, we conduct trainingprograms to increase clue-consciousness and cus-tomer empathy tbroughout the organization,thereby maximizing a firm's ability to anticipateand respond in a consistent and reinforcing man-ner.

Particular focus is placed on developingemployees' intuitive and perceptive skills. Thisprocess is critical to creating a culture tbat posi-tions employees as facilitators of an experiencearchitecture, rather than as executors of a servicedelivery mechanism.

Collecting and Analyzing DataWe recruit representative customer panels and

expose them to an existing experience or a realis-tic mockup of a planned experience. What theysee, hear, taste, touch, smell, and feel is capturedin detail in each phase. We record bow they feelabout these clues as well as their way of express-ing their reaction to the overall experience. Theentire experiment is filmed for later examinationin detail.

This exercise frequently provides solid evidencetbat sensory impressions can outweigh factual evi-

dence in forming per-ceptions. In one case, anursing home receivedmultiple negative eval-uations about tbe clean-liness of its facilities.However, objectiveinvestigation revealedno evidence of this.Only after analyzingwhat signals outsiderswere picking up. and

how these signals were being interpreted, did tbereal culprit—a strong disinfectant odor—emerge.

To management's surprise, this was perceivedas a "dirtiness" clue; tbe unusual strength ofthe

An "experiencearchitect" leads the

process of analyzing,creating, and modify-

ing humanics andmechanics clues.

odor was subconsciously translated by inspectorsinto a conclusion tbat tbe premises must beexceptionally dirty to require sucb a strong disin-fectant. Using disinfectants witb a pleasant odordidn't help, because tbat was interpreted as a"cover-up" clue. Tbe solution was to use a neu-tral scent.

Wherever possible, we conduct comparablestudies at competitor locations and benchmark for"best of breed" clues. Then, after leveraging Iheimagination ofthe team to generate additional cluecandidates, we create a detailed index tbat qualifiesclues in terms of their specific impact, and howthey enhance or detract from the intended take-away perception.

Designing and Integrating CluesAn "experience architect" leads the process of

analyzing, creating, and modifying humanics andmechanics clues. The goals, as shown in Exhibit 2,are to:

• Either eliminate negative service clues ormove them into tbe "commodity zone."

• Insert highly differentiated clues known tobuild preference, and reinforce them in otberparts of the experience.

• Test each clue and weight it in terms of itsimpact, cost, and operational consequences.

Clues tbat "make tbe cut" are integrated intoan engineered Experience Blueprint'" {seeExbibits 3-5 on page 16). This is aset of blueprintdrawings that divides the experience into layerscorresponding to the various phases of a particu-lar experience. Each layer is supported by agrapbic depiction of tbe service clues to be expe-rienced in that phase of the total experience(Exhibit 4). A set of specifications that summa-rize the rankihg, impact, estimated costs, andoperational impact is prepared on a correspondingpage for each layer (Exhibit 5).

Skillful layering of clues can differentiate anotberwise unexceptional experience by buildinga cumulative perception. Over the course of aday or two, for example, many details integratedinto Disney attractions build a strong perceptionabout Disney's attention to detail and cleanli-ness.

Layering clues also can produce different, "cus-tomized" versions of a single target perception.Again, it is the aggregate effect of the detailedclues tbat establisbes a composite experienceimpression for each individual—each of whom hasexperienced a different subset of all tbe clues. Insome experience designs, we have isolated as

EXHIBIT 3

EXPERIENCE ENGINEERS:Jon S. Bosco

E.A. Ffoggie

F.L. Wright

D.A.C. Moscowltz

Cliff Walker

P.J. Rampino

Mack Oliver

Bill Wizard

Ron McDonatroe

XYZ CORPORATION

EXPERIENCE BLUEPRINT

STATEMENT OF MISSIONScire velim. chartis pretium quotusarroget annus. scriptor abhinc annoscentum qui decidit, inter perfectos vet-eresque referri debet an inter vilisatque novos.

October17, 2020

PROJECT MANAGER:Norben Jones, XYZ Company

ARCHITECT:Lou Carbone, REA Catt'one and Company, Lid

STRUCTURAL CONSULTANTS:Bill Schmid, ABC Design

ILLUSTRATOR:Susan Antnony

PROJECT COORDINATOR:sieve H Wilson

STANDARDS & INSPECTION:Julie Cacolavich

EXHIBIT 4

Clean orderly parkinq lot system. (5P)PAINTENANCE

FAEKINLANE

Maternity Parking: L>e5ignai:e 6>!pectam; motner p rmng area */\tn3 pafnced f iue/pmk itort (rrtemacionai syn*ol { c no 5molcina. etc.).

morBtrate^ a sense of canng and knowing CLfStomcr needs.

Friendly Waminas: All warning sigris sttoiid point to a customerbenefit (fc, Fire Lane... "For everyone's safetywe recommend no!parking irr the fire lane."

Fresh Patic Apply f reah paint to curtJS. crois walks, etc, and i.lines on pro-active snd frec^uent schedule to aid with positivecleanliness clues.

Safety Llghtina: 5peci3i safety ligtitina in parting lot with a no'--that the lot has been specially tit with "xx" candtepower for you-safety.

Paintenaticc: Fainted surfaces should be painted before anyacicing. peelirtg or disrepair is evidencecl. The negative cleaniine-

signais could be positive clues by staying ahead witti advance partWuc/ pwk itoti uAsroaluwal mmiwl C u;. noOemonirate* » tente of caring m\ii kn}wu\q aniomer ree^

Experience Blueprin

•( dlon't »»it w tfl »!t a Utket « reanimoid mt

thai the M fw tsEK

vTaid. ,hwU bo f

» HM, Calian. »•» Onmnr, LW M n

16 MARKiTtNG mmmm

Engineering Customer Experiences

many as 13 distinct layers, some of which haveseveral hundred embedded service clues.

Implementing and VerifyingWe tben organize tbe ciues into three groups:

those that should have been implemented yesterday,including the removal of negative clues; those wecan implement today; and those to be done in tbefuture. Some clues must be held for the futurebecause tbe technology required to implement themdoesn't exi.st yet. For example, the audio-animitron-ics for Walt Disney World were developed onlyafter the overall experience had been designed. Dis-ney "imagineers" created the experience in modelfonn. after which Disney workshops developed themechanics that produced the clues in the design.

The blueprint is prototyped with as many con-stituencies as possible, and a subset of the clues ischosen to validate costs, specifications, and impact.We use the pictorial blueprint to communicate thedesign to the entire organization, promoting under-standing, buy-in, and organizational learning byemployees on the service line. We also include thenames of the employees who participated in thedesign as the title page of the blueprint (Exhibit 3).

A New Frontier

Wberever shorter life cycles make products andservices more commodity-like, differentiation andpreference migrate from the offerings themselvesto the institutions that create tbe experiences asso-ciated with their acquisition, use. and maintenance.

Engineering customer experiences is an impor-tant—and largely unexploited—strategy for estab-lishing and maintaining customer preference for

an institution. It should,therefore, be In the capabili-ty portfolio of any firminvesting in long-tenn cus-tomer relationships.

Creating customer experi-ences is not new. Occasionalpurposeful design of theseexperiences by intuitive indi-viduals also i:> not new. Butrendering the design and

execution of experiences as a management disci-pline witb principles, tools, and techniques is new.

Starting with an understanding that the manu-facturing iiianagement paradigm is insufficient forsense-and-respond service firms, academics, con-sultants, and managers have begun to fashion a ser-vice management discipline. The sei vice qualitymanagement focus in the 1980s was an especiallyimportant contribution to tbis effort.

The manufacturingmanagement

paradigm isinsufficient for

sense-and-respondservice firms.

Experience clue management now promises tobecome a new frontier in marketings—most obvi-ously in services and retail marketing. It is not apanacea any more than quality management was: itis a different domaiii in which to exercise judg-ment, apply skills, and make considered invest-ments in order to create competitive advantage andcustomer loyalty.

Witb this in mind, here are some predictions;

Understanding all theimplications of variousclues and determininghow their impact on pref-erence varies by region,market, store, demo-graphic profile, and otherfactors will occupyresearchers for years tocome.

Quick-and-dirtydramatics ti'umpedup to create instantlegends will almostcertainly be a partof the scene.

• Finding those combinations of clues thathave highest impact for well-defined audi-ences will create wealth for a new breed ofspecialists.

• Being able to mass-customize clues for indi-vidual customers will be as important forexperience managers as flexible productionsystems are becoming for product and ser-vice managers.

" Having an establisbed and disciplinedapproach to the design and creation of humanexperience will not be enough; the decidingrole will be played by the skill, taste, percep-tiveness, and business acumen of its practi-tioners. Quick-and-dirty dramatics trumpedup to create instant legends will almost cer-tainly and unfortunately be a part of the sceneas the power and potential of engiiieering tbeexperience becomes more evident.

Tbe risks of experience designs are tbose asso-ciated with any leaming curve, and may be exacer-bated by tbe potential lor high negative leverage ifpoorly done. Tbe reward is customer preferencethat is designed, implemented, and managed—preference not for a set of products and services.but for an institution.

A formerly intuitive and highly subjectivedomain of business is being transformed from anepisodic art form into a replicable process managedby people who arc skilled, but not necessarilygeniuses. Walt is gone, but Disney experiencesendure and multiply, shaped by talented peoplewho never met him.EZH

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Glossary of TermsExperience: The aggregate and cumula-

tive customer perception created duringthe process of learning about, acquiring,using, maintaining, and (sometimes) dis-posing of a product or service.

Experience Blueprint: A pictorial repre-sentation of the experience clues to beengineered, along with a specificationthat describes them and their individualfunctions.

Experience clues: The visual, auditory,tactile, aromatic, and taste signals emittedby products, services, and the environ-ment that, in aggregate, form a customerperception.

Performance clues: Clues created by thefunction (or nonfunction) of a product orservice, relative to customer expectations.

Context clues: Clues emitted by products.

services, and their environment that arcnot related to performance.

Humanics: The context clues emitted byhumans.

Mechanics: The context clues emitted bythings.

Motif: A succinct verbal characterizationof the targeted "take-away" customer per-ception. Used as a unifying elemenl forthe clues in and Experience Blueprint.

Preference: A net positive differential—relative to an alternative^in a customer'sattitude about a product, service, environ-ment, experience, or company.

Sticktion: Experience clues that are suffi-ciently remarkable lo be registered andremembered by customers without beingabrasive.

Domain ofExperienceEngineering

TYPES of CLUES

SOURCE of CLUES

Peffor/nance

"It work hm^^

"Tkjkitim"

Context

HUMANICS MECHANICS

3,No.3

Engineering Customer Experienees

Additional Reading

Firnstahl. Timothy W. (1989),"My Employees Are MyService Guarantee." Har-vard Business Review, 67(July-August), 28-32.

Kroc. Ray. with RobertAnderson (1977). GrindingIt Out: The Making of

McDonald's. New York:Berkley Publishing Corp.

Magnet. Myron 11994). "Let'sGo for Growth," Fomme.(March 7). 60-72.

Zaltinun, Gerald and Robin A.Higie (1993). "Seeing the

Voice of the Customer: TheZaltman Metaphor Elicita-tion Technique," MSIworking paper 93-114.Marketing Science Insti-tute, Cambridge, Mass.

About the AuthorsLewis P. Carbone is President of Carbone and Co. Ltd. and The Experience Engineering Co..

Bloomingtoii, Minn. A strategic marketing/communications professional. Lou is at the forefront ofthe development of experience management. In 1989. he established a consulting practice providingspecialized marketing services to such clients as Avis Rent-A-Car. Dolhir Rent A Car System Inc..IBM Corp., DMB&B Advertising. DDB/Needham Advertising, CME Advertising. Saatchi &Saatchi Inc.. Martin-Williams Advertising, and FKQ Adveitising. Before founding his company,Lou was Vice President. Intemational Sales and Marketing, for National Car Rental, where he wasresponsible for global marketing and sales effoits. Prior to that, Lou was Executive Vice President.Management Representative at Grey Advertising Inc. and Senior Vice President at Lintas: Camp-bell-Ewald, New York. Lou lectures at colleges and workshops on the subject of experience man-agement. A member of the American Management Association's Sales and Marketing Council foranumber of years, he is a graduate of Thiel College, The terms Experience Engineering'"', ServiceExperience Engineering'", Experience Blueprint'", Service Experience Bkieprint'" '. and EngineeredExperience Clue''' iirc owned by Carbone and Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stephan H. Haeckel is Director of Strategic Studies at IBM Corp.'s Advanced Business Insti-tute, Palisades, N.Y. He does research, teaches, and advises executives on the use of inlbrmationand technology to create and manage adaptive organizations. Steve writes and speaks international-ly on this subject for executive audiences. He has been guest lecturer at the Tuck School and theHarvard Business School. His recent publications include chapters in books published in 1993 and1994 by the Han'ard Business School Press, the Oxford Press, and the Annual Review of the Insti-tution for Infomiation Research. He is coauthor of "Managing by Wire," which appeiircd in theHarvard Business Review (September-October 1993). and was named to the 1994 McKinseyAward panel of judges for the best article appearing in HBR. His IBM career includes executiveresponsibilities in Europe and on the corporate staff. As Director of Advanced Market Develop-ment. Steve led the projects that formulated IBM's corporate strategies for using alternate market-ing channels, and for entering the commercial systems integration business. He was one of theauthors of IBM's corporate services strategy. Steve is Chairman of the Research Policy Committeeof the Maiketing Science Institute and Vice Chainnan of its Executive Committee. He representsIBM on the Marketing Council of the American Management Association. He holds engineehngand MBA degrees from Washington University in St. Louis.

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