Create Maximum Customer Experience Before You Kick It?

The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, came out on Christmas Day in larger cities. I hoped to go see it that week but I didn’t have the chance, so tonight for a little belated Happy Birthday to Me, I went. (What’s that? Oh, thanks.)

A lot of folks are writing their own Bucket Blogs lately, and having privately done variations of it a few times before, I am now NOT going to offer another Bucket List to the ether. That would be way too off-topic for the MCE Blog.

Instead a few quick takes on the Experience I had tonight:

My local mega-theatre has installed convenient automated machines for purchasing tickets if you are paying by debit or credit card. This, apparently, is very handy when the lines are enormous, as they were tonight. The only problem is, they are hard to spot, and when a managerial-type walked the line yelling to use them if we weren’t paying cash, there was no way to get out of the line to do so (ropes keeping us snaking toward the front) unless you were a limbo artist. So most of us heard the call, looked around, and gave up and continued to wait, now frustrated at the sight of a faster way that we couldn’t get near.

The Bucket List was packed. This was its opening day here in Delaware (who knew?). What the room was packed with surprised me, also… I had expected to be just about the youngest person in the room (and if you’re wondering, it was not a terribly young birthday I just celebrated), but the crowd around me was as multi-aged as any I have ever seen in a theatre. In front of me there were four just-about-twenty year olds on a double date. Next to me were a couple who were in their early thirties. The room went from late teens to late… well, let’s just say all the way to very late. There were a lot of couples, but also a large number of groups, mainly of women. This is probably not too surprising, but the range of ages really was a surprise to me.

The ads and promos went on forever. I do go to the movies a few times a year so I know this isn’t big news, but this was the worst ever. I felt like throwing tomatoes, but alas I had none, and it would have done nothing to alleviate my suffering anyway. I’m sure there’s no human deciding when to start the show based on number of tomatoes being tossed.

What can you take from this moviegoer’s Experience?

1. If you offer conveniences, make them convenient! Trapped in line for tickets, I felt like the snowman in Pixar’s Knick Knack.

2. Bridge generations with your product or service. I would have loved to interview a few of the younger people who came, because really I can’t tell you what brought them in, but I was a bit too teary to look professional.

3. DO. NOT. IRRITATE your customers! The thing about the ads is, a couple of ads lets stragglers get in without missing the first minutes. Fifteen minutes of them encourages everyone to become a straggler, because they know the start time is not the start time. Don’t do this to the people who give money to you.

Last: Go see The Bucket List. The film Experience was as good as I hoped it would be.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

You Can’t Afford to Miss This One

Thriving firms, look out—this post is geared toward brand-new businesses. (Okay, more established businesses may benefit from these ideas also.)

As the owner of a startup company, you may feel like you can’t afford to hire a designer.

Quick plug for the entire design world (you know what we’ll say): Often, you can’t afford not to hire us. Sometimes we can save you money in costly errors; often we can save you time—which gets your party started faster; well-directed money is always more effective at launching your company than scattered efforts. If you can’t hire a designer (naturally, I recommend an Experience Designer) for your entire project, sometimes a very focused consultation can give you insight that guides your efforts and saves you from spinning your wheels.
Ahem, I had to do that. Guild rules or something. Back to the article now.

Now, if you’ve just got to go it alone, how can you best implement just a few elements of Experience Design that will boost your startup now and long-term?

Top Three Musts for Startups

1. Research and write down an Experience Design plan

Vision (Your “destination”)
Budget
Ideal Customer/ Ideal Solution
Goals (Points that help you know when you’ve reached your destination)

2. Start with a great name

As I wrote in Key Concepts, quite simply—your company’s name is the most important ad you’ll ever write.

3. Get some help—see your company the way others will see it

Some advise getting opinions of friends and family (some advise against it!); some suggest an advisory panel of business associates; these days, some suggest Internet help.
Even if it’s the coworkers at the place you moonlight with while you begin, get some in-person (not Internet, they can’t see your place), objective (this may rule out family…) opinions on your name, your basic business concept, your look (I mean your site but if they have opinions on your personal appearance take those opinions gratefully, too), and your plan.

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re in love with your idea—get someone who isn’t, to tell you what works and what definitely doesn’t.

If possible, get this advice from a few people who are similar to your Ideal Customer profile, so they can give an informed opinion, but don’t fret if they have no connection to your field. Very fresh, outsider opinion is also quite valuable, as long as the person can put him- or herself in the shoes of a customer. [If Granny says she doesn’t get it, is it because she’s not your target market and isn’t trying to imagine being in their shoes (not a good advisor), or is it because the idea or execution of the idea stinks (a very good advisor)? Know your Granny to answer that one.]

Bonus “Must”:

Quick impressions are very useful. After all, most potential clients, like potential suitors, are going to make very quick judgments when deciding to accept or reject your company. Periodically clear your mind and do a “quick look” at your brand-new baby business. Whatever you notice first is the area to focus your attention on. Have advisors do this too. If a color glares at them, or clutter or (heaven forbid!) dirt is what they notice, if they drive up and can’t find your signs, if they can’t remember your name or it has bad associations in their mind… these are the things prospects will catch, too.

When I sign these postings, I really mean these last few words. If you are the owner of a fledgling startup, then I wish this for you *double* today:

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

Trickle-down Customer Relationship Management?

At a restaurant this evening, one not especially known for its personal attention, my eight-year-old and I heard the manager introducing herself and discussing the meal with patrons in the next booth.

My daughter says, in a low voice:

Very nice manager.

It affects how her customers feel.”

Why? I ask.

Because. It makes them cheery.”

(You know you talk about your profession too much at home when…)

From the mouths of babes, today’s lesson in Experience Design.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

You Really Need to Get Some Air

This is part two of 13 in the Experience Design 101 series. For links to all the articles in this series click here.

Why do high-powered publishers need editors? Best-selling authors like J. K. Rowling or Maya Angelou, Jakob Nielsen or Keith Ferrazzi, they’re inspired and creative and masters in their fields. Why edit?

Because even an expert needs outside perspective when they’ve been knee-deep in their own thoughts for months or in some cases, years.

My father sometimes read papers for me in high school. My mother used to look at my math. A fresh pair of eyes can catch the easy boo-boos, and that’s great. What fresh eyes are best at, though, is being… fresh.

Call it the duh! factor. [Liz Goodgold does; check out her Duh! Marketing Awards.] If your concepts can’t pass the duh! test you may be headed for trouble. When Dad didn’t think a paragraph made sense, or when Mom couldn’t get the same answer as I did on the math, it was time to go back to work, clarifying and focusing.

You need to step away from your business, on occasion. If you’ve ever held a dinner party at home you probably know how this works: with a half-an-hour to go, you walk the house—What have I forgotten? Any clutter I didn’t spot earlier? Did I chill the wine? Is there a knife for the cheese?

When you step away from your business you perform this same check. Get a little air, gain fresh Perspective on what you offer and how you present it. Is my website too busy? Does it inform enough? Are my ads pulling in the kind of leads I want? Do my staff look pulled-together? Are sales trending up?

All those talented authors step away from their work plenty before they send it off to the publisher. Their magnum opus goes off to an editor, who as gently as possible, hacks it to bits. Or so it feels, because no matter how constructive, criticism can hurt.

Bring it on!

Whether it’s a book or a restaurant or a law firm or a liquor store, your work won’t be its best until it’s made it past the Perspective of an outsider’s eye.

You need an outside eye to watch for nonsense terms and overblown rhetoric like “best in class,” “guru,” and “top-notch” in your materials. [For more, read the uniquely fascinating, top-notch Gobbledygook Manifesto.] You need an outside eye to tell you the colors you’ve chosen for your executive portrait studio scream “hospital,” or the chairs in your reception area are only comfortable to you, or your signage is driving people away. You need an outside eye to tell you the staff you regard as family need to brush up on their manners when you’re not looking, or your prices are upscale but their attire is downscale. You need an outside eye to tell you when your concept needs a little gentle editing.

Get your mom, your dad, a friend who is not afraid to tell the truth, or just stop six new customers today. What strikes them first about your concept, your name, your location, or other aspects of your customer experience? What would bring them to your company? Are they using your offerings in the way you intended? Do they “get it”? Would they recommend you to a friend? Why or why not?

Take your time with this. Don’t wince when you hear their answers, or you’ll hinder the process. Don’t take it personally—this help is literally a gold mine for your business!

Ask for and really learn from this “kick in the pants.” The more Perspective, the better you’ll focus in on creating the Customer Experience that maximizes your growth.

Gather all the information and mine it for the most usable insights right away.

Then, take a break; after all this hacking and mining, you’ll probably need to get some air.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

Next up in the series: Part Three: 3 Critical lessons learned from the Big Boys

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