How actionable insights help us develop deep experiences

Sometimes?our?clients?ask?us?why?they?should invest in deep experiences. Regardless of who your?stakeholders?are?–?customers, employees, board members,?or?the general?public?–?creating deep?experiences?can elevate the?connections?and relationships?you have with them.

What?do we mean by?deep experiences? In short, deep experiences help create emotional resonance between?the?client or brand,?and their stakeholders.??

Read about how HOL creates deep experiences for our clients?here.?

For?more than?a decade, we have?helped?our clients build stronger, deeper,?and more positive relationships with their stakeholders.?The payoff?of these efforts are?not small.?

When?executed?correctly, a sound experience strategy can enhance brand equity, grow a loyal following,?improve business outcomes,?and turn your audience into?advocates.

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But where should you start?

It may sound obvious but the first step is to?make sure you have?a?thorough understanding?of?your stakeholders. What are their needs?and?desires??What are the?beliefs?and?values?they hold dear??How?do?they?tend to?behave in different circumstances?and situations?

You?may?also?want to?understand more about the kind of experiences your stakeholders would favour?if?there?were?no constraints or limitations on their time, resources, and so forth.?Gathering?such relevant?information?could be onerous. But, they?will help?you?design actionable insights?that have real impact.?More about that later. Here, I want to share a real-life story.

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Move hearts, change minds

We once?had?the?opportunity to collaborate with a client to create an experience centred around?Singapore’s economic?success story.?At the venue,?the client was?concerned?to see?an elderly?visitor standing?in front?of?a display with tears welling up?in his eyes.?When?our client?approached him?to ask if he was all right, the visitor?shared that one of the photos?reminded him?of something that happened a long time ago.??

In the 1960s, when?the?government started to clear?farm?land?in Singapore to make room?for industrial development,?the elderly man?was?one of the government employees?sent to convince?land?owners to give up their farms for development.?He recounted?how?the?owners would set?their?dogs on him?–forcing?him?to?run for his life.?

Now, looking back at?how?Singapore has changed, it made him feel?emotional. He?suddenly saw?the hardship he went through?in a different light – he had played a?small but important?part in?Singapore’s success?story.

The visitor’s response?is an?example?of?what a good?experience strategy?can?do in terms of creating emotional resonance.?We?had?intended to create an experience that would enable?visitors?to?feel that they?have?a part to play in the economic success of?Singapore,?regardless of how?big or?how?small. Afterall, where would we be without?the contributions and sacrifices of?individuals??

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Where do?actionable insights?come in?

A key part of the process of creating a deep experience depends very much on being able to?obtain impactful, actionable?insights?through our research.

Actionable insights will tell?us?what?stakeholders want, so that we can?accurately address?their likes and?pain points.?With the right strategy, we can?convert these?pain points to opportunities.?By focusing on uncovering actionable insights, we can better understand the unspoken thoughts and feelings of our stakeholders.

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But, how?do we?know what are?impactful, actionable?insights?

HOL?works?closely?with our clients?to?make informed and accurate decisions in the?storytelling, curation,?design and development of deep experiences.?It all starts with impactful,?actionable insights. Impactful insights endure, they are not based on fads and?are?able?to withstand the test of time. They connect with the audience?at?a deeper,?emotional?level and inspire meaningful actions?that?solve real problems.

More?examples of actionable insights

Our Children’s Heroes

Parents?were?hesitant about bringing their children to?museums,?galleries?or science centres.?While they wanted?to expose their children to enriching experiences,?they?did not want?to?be in a position where they?were?unable to answer their children’s questions?about the exhibits.?Most parents?want to be heroes in the eyes of their children?and?do?not want?to appear ignorant.?Our solution was to provide a parents’ guide?and?clear?explanatory?labels?to facilitate?quality?parent-child interaction. Equipped with the right knowledge and suitable talking points,?we removed the potential discomfort for?parents.

The?Value of?Storytelling

An heirloom is usually part of an enduring story that is unique to the family.?For some, the story?is worth more than the price of the gold, silver, or diamond cast on the jewellery itself. For?an accomplished individual, the most precious thing they?will?leave behind for?their loved ones and the next generation is their legacy – the story of a life well lived. Our approach to developing deep experiences for brands is?to focus on?what they stand for. We know that?customers?often?relate more to the brand’s values than the physical objects.

What if you don’t need to create deep experiences? Do you still need to invest time and effort to uncover actionable insights?

Yes. Because actionable insights?can?inspire?desired?action?and?drive new ideas, thinking,?and behaviours?in?your organisation. It?may even help energise your team?because?actionable insights?can help you?solve real problems.?

Last year, a?client?approached us to conduct a?stakeholder engagement?study.?They?had?implemented many initiatives?in the past?but?the outcomes?did not?yield?the?desired?results.?This affected the morale of the team?so much that?they?became?hesitant to try new things. Through a detailed study, HOL was able to provide the team with actionable insights supported by data. ?

One of the unexpected but positive?outcomes?of the?study?was that?it helped galvanise the team, change their mindset about success and finding new ways to approach the problem.?The team gained renewed?enthusiasm and optimism through the process.?

Conclusion

Having actionable insights?about?user?behaviour?can help?you?make more accurate decisions?on everything from?product?or?service improvements to pricing and messaging.?You can?help your stakeholders?get the results they want or need without wasting time, resources, and money. In a nutshell:?To be able to move hearts change minds, you need deep experiences.?And, to?create?deep experiences, you need?actionable, impactful?insights.

Angeline Tong is a storyteller for spaces and Chief Experience Officer at?HOL, an experience and engagement strategy consultancy. Angeline has a Master of Education (Human Development & Psychology) from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from Harvard University. She currently resides in Singapore.

To contact Angeline, email?[email protected]