The Value of User Experience

Think of a store that you frequent. Perhaps it's your local farm market or maybe it's the Starbucks near your office. Now imagine yourself inside that store about to pay for something. Will you just walk blindly up to the next available cashier, or do you find yourself hoping that you see a specific person that you enjoy dealing with? Well, I actually have a few of these favourites, and while I won't invite these people to my next family bar-b-q there's no denying the authenticity of my relationship with them.

Here's a story about how a shopping experience affected my relationship with a brand to the point that it influenced my purchasing behaviour.

Yelling can be a good thing

I have a friend at work with whom I share a common interest: we both occasionally like to pretend we are interested in eating healthy food. We work next door to a large mall and we often find ourselves in the mall's food court looking for lunch. So we've made something of a habit of going to a place that sells wraps and smoothies, and uses ingredients like brown rice, grilled chicken, kale, quinoa, spinach... you get the idea.

The proprietor is a tremendously charismatic lady who has a real passion for customer service. She literally yells our names as she sees us approaching the ordering counter. "Lindsay! JT! Hello my friends! How are you doing?". She actually waits for a response too, this isn't one of those automatic inquiries. Now, I happen to be a little picky when it comes to food so "no mayo" or "no dressing" are frequent customizations that I make to food orders. Our pal behind the counter remembers this and anticipates my request. Because of course she does.

Outside of all this, the food is actually pretty decent so we are happy to patronize them, but not necessarily on every trip to the mall. For example, on Regret Fridays we might opt for KFC or bourbon chicken.

Anyway, on one such occasion I entered the food court with no intention of visiting our healthy pals. But, as I walked toward the deep fried goodness that was now calling out to me, I felt a strange sensation. Guilt. Actual guilt! It wasn't just the food either... I was hesitant about walking past the healthy guys for fear that its champion mistake my proximity for patronage and yell her usual greeting. How could I respond to that?

I recounted this tale to my friends and they laughed at me feelings of infidelity, but my point here is a simple one. Have I tasted better food? Most definitely. Have I found better value for money? Certainly. Have I felt that wanted as a customer? Rarely.

Digitally speaking

Yelling is just one of several tactics out there but precious few brands actually manage to achieve this kind of connection with their customers. What would you try if you were a business owner? Now think of that same thing, but imagine that you weren't able to speak to your customers? That deep engagement probably doesn't look so straight forward any more.

I've spent my entire career working with technology to help businesses digitally enable their staff and customers. At first, I applied my efforts rather broadly, but as the world changed so too did my focus which moved to the web, and eventually mobile.

One observation remains consistent though: customers are increasingly choosing digital channels over physical ones for routine interactions with businesses. What this trend means is that businesses are losing their opportunities to have conversations with their customers. And, because this trend is being driven entirely by customer choice there is little that business can do to stave off the coming tide.

So how can any brand hope to maintain and even deepen relationships with its customers (which are so critical for sustainability) as this shift continues? The answer of course is simple: In the digital world User Experience must shoulder the responsibility that is typically carried by Customer Service in the physical world.

User Experience to the rescue

As you might imagine the tactics for delivering an adequately rich User Experience (UX) vary widely and evolve frequently. This isn't something that businesses should be daunted by though, it is just the nature of the world we live in.

Put yourself in the shoes of a business owner. If your customers don't feel good about using the digital self-service tools that you provide them with then you can expect the same outcome as if they don't feel good about dealing with your service reps face to face. Similarly, just as you may adjust processes or improve training for your staff when you detect trends of negative customer experiences, so too must you cultivate enriching experiences in your business' digital channels.

Finally, there's an important consideration on the approach. What I am describing here is not some finite problem with an exact solution. This level of engagement with your customers is not something that can accomplished by bolting on bells and whistles to your desired digital platform. It is something that needs to be baked into every aspect of the digital tools with which customers interact. Perfection may never come, but if a business hopes to stay relevant it must embrace this pursuit of delivering an engaging User Experience.

I like to think of this pursuit as a lifestyle choice, not unlike healthy eating. It is a lifestyle of observing digital customer interactions and constantly building on what you learn to further refine the experience. I have chosen this lifestyle (the UX one, not the healthy eating) but like anything worth doing, it can be a challenge. So I must remind myself every day of what it is I am trying to achieve and endeavor never to lose sight of why.

I've made my choice and I invite you to join me.

Thanks to my colleagues at Coast Capital Savings for the inspiration to share my (our) thoughts and thanks to the folks at Freshii for the wraps and the experience.

Photo Credit: SweetOnVeg - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetonveg/8561341670/