What’s an experience anyway?

When customers speak of an “experience” they are talking about two intertwined things:

• A set of interactions they have been through which together add up to something relevant and memorable for them. For the sake of clarity we call these groups of interactions an EPISODE
• Strong feelings usually emerge from going through distinctive episodes. It is this emotion that gets customers coming back and saying good things to others- a positive REACTION- actions that favour the provider.

In other words EXPERIENCE = EPISODES + REACTION.

To build a compelling experience requires both art and science.

A compelling experience may lie there- like a rough diamond ready to polish up. Maybe a new idea is required- one that stands out, yet powerfully reinforces the brand.

Yet an idea alone is not enough. Great experiences are good ideas well engineered into compelling episodes. Customer facing process that work for the customer and can be delivered effectively by staff.

Note: Confusion gets caused when people talk about “the customer experience” (in other words the process that customers go through but not necessarily distinctive in any way) vs “AN experience” which is what we are referring to- a memorable and compelling process that gets customers reacting positively. There’s a big difference between the two.
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