Following the Journey Map to a Great Experience

Recently, I needed a new windshield wiper blade.  The day was a sloppy mix of rain and snow, and the driving would be a hassle if I didn’t take care of the problem.  I stopped into a local O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store, and picked out the basic wiper blade.  As I went to check out, the clerk, a pleasant, elderly gentleman suggested I look at the next blade up in quality (and price).  He vouched for them, saying he had great luck with them.  He walked me back to the display, helped me pick out the new blade, which happened to be on a two for one sale.  Going a few steps beyond, he offered to install the new blades for me!  Having mangled more than my share of new blades, this was a great but unexpected (and free) service. In five minutes, I was on my way, and thanks to my new friend John at O’Reilly Auto Parts, equipped with a clean windshield and ready to drive safely.

What had happened?  O’Reilly anticipated not just my purchase experience of a commodity product, but gone deeper into the journey of my experience – beyond purchase to installation and use.  It was unexpected, totally satisfying and worth a story for me to tell.

Sometime back, we were encouraged to look at our companies’ business processes, to get a better handle on what was efficient and inefficient in the way we did work.  Many a quality or re-engineering method had us looking at inputs, outputs, and the steps people and machines or computers took to produce goods or information.  And while many of these helped companies better understand cost and quality, it left us short on how to provide great service.

But many of these process maps take the view of how our company sees it… what about our customers’ view?  I’d suggest many an internal process improvement was never visible to a customer. Why?  Our view in many cases was “inside – out” – how we saw it.  On top of that, we tend to think of processes as “linear” – first this step happens, then that one.  All of us in customer service know it NEVER happens that way – there are always interruptions to our neatly honed processes when CUSTOMERS are involved!

OUTSIDE – IN

So, how can we take a customer’s view of our company?  I’d like to suggest a tool many in the Customer Experience Management community use – The Journey Map.

What is it?  The Journey Map is a way of looking at the experience a customer has with a firm, its products or services.  It goes beyond the step by step process map to envision how customers live, work and play – and to deepen our understanding of how our products and services can make a positive and winning impact as customers use them.

A few years ago, one of my favorite business leaders, Richard Branson, was introducing business class travel from the United States to London on Virgin Air, and competing with vaunted British Airways and the American airlines.  His competitors focused on in-plane features and amenities and relatively competitive fares for a lucrative route.  Virgin Air chose to go several steps beyond:  while competitors focused on the business lounge and the in-flight experience, Branson took a view of the FULL journey by a business person: he had his team look at the experience of a valued business traveler and what they needed to accomplish to have a successful trip.

• His view of the journey included the journey TO the airport – so Virgin Air business travelers were picked up by limousine and transported to the airport.  Bags were checked in as part of the pickup service.
• Once at the airport, the business class lounge provided a full meal buffet, not just snacks
• Upon arrival at Heathrow, complimentary use of showers, a massage, suit, shirt or dress pressing.
• Limousine service to your business meeting.

In this way, Virgin demonstrated it understood that business traveler’s journey neither started at the airport nor finished at the airport.  That the things that taxed a traveler could be addressed by Virgin as a travel companion AND as a business partner.  Impressive.

Let’s try on an example:

Let’s say you make a great add-on accessory case for a phone or portable music device.  You have some choices about the product design:  what material is the case made of, how it is packaged, how you promote the product and how you stand behind your product as customers use it.

A Journey Map would envision and document several aspects of the customer’s use of mobile devices and accessories:

• How do customers use their phone?  Is it carried in a pocket? A Purse or backpack?  On a hip?

• Product material – is it slippery or grippy?  Can it survive the “drop” test?
• Packaging – is it easy to open?  Or do you need a large pair of scissors or an acetylene torch to open it?
• How is your product merchandised in store?  Can the client try it out on their phone? Does the online information contribute in a positive way to differentiating the product? Is there a chat capability to help with product or usage questions?
• Customers exchange or buy a new phone every couple of years… can you extend the relationship by getting them to buy a new case of yours with a loyalty promotion or coupon or referral to a friend?

Around each of these areas of questions you need to answer about how your product would work and how the customer experiences your firm.  It would examine the emotional attributes of the buying and ownership experience, and build standard but differentiating service procedures into each step of the Journey. Build your website, call centers and other sales and service channels to anticipate the full customer experience – from research, to selection, to product usage, to problem resolution, to proactive service and deepening the customer relationship and building follow on business.

Lessons about the using the Journey Map to create a great experience

• Extend your view beyond the sale
  • Pre-sale
  • Sale
  • Ownership
  • Renewal
• Understand why and how a customer uses your product or service
  • What situations does your client use your product in
  • What can happen emotionally?
  • What would cause them to use your channels – both assisted and self service?
• Anticipate these uses and build them into your processes
  • Don’t miss an opportunity to demonstrate your excellence in service
  • Don’t miss an opportunity to build a deeper (and more profitable) relationship
  • Don’t miss an opportunity to differentiate

Invest in the effort to really understand your customers and how they experience your firm, your competitors and the market from their view – the Outside-In.  Like John and O’Reilly, you can create a clear view to a better customer experience.

 

Design and Cities as Experience-Scapes

It’s cold. It’s windy.  Really windy.  But Chicago is one of those cities that is a magnet for visitors and residents alike.  Never mind the city did not win the Olympic Games bid.  It is one of those places that, regardless of latitude and climate, it does a stellar job of creating memories and experiences for people across the Midwest, the country and the world.

I propose that art, culture and design have played a key role in the experience creation.  But not just as a business would do, the collection of parks, museums, retail, sports, food and bars all go together to create a true City as Experience-scape.

A great example is what the city has done in the creation of Millennium Park.  Bounded by   Michigan Avenue and Lakeshore Drive, the park is a magnet for visitors – adjacent to the Art Institute of Chicago, it’s a natural follow on to exploring art.  It’s Frank Gehry designed amphitheatre is home to the Chicago Symphony for its outdoor gigs.  The “Bean”  – an enormous silver kidney bean, a la Tiffany,  seems to draw people of all ages , shapes and sizes to come and touch, make fun-house faces, and pose for pictures for friends near and far.  Bigger-than-life size, the Bean and the other art in the park accentuate scale and infuses its visitors with fun and joy just by being.

And visitors take joy in lingering, laughing and being well.  There is a man made granite lined stream, were people take off their shoes and sit on the staired banks dangling their feet in the stream, as if they were in the country, as opposed to Michigan Avenue. There are wonderous gardens, complete with a maze, from which you always hear shouting and laughter.

And while there is nothing to buy, the gifts and value in spending time in such a place with people  calls together the spirit of what gathering and parks and we hope cities are.   A place for human kind to drink in life in a shared way, as part of a larger ecosystem, larger than the individual.

Design. As art, it surfaces emotion and perspective.  As a central part of creating gathering spaces for people in cities and villages, it is magic.  It is power. It is experience.

What role does design play where you work or live?

 

Design and (gasp!) Drying Hands

This summer I was in Union Station in Chicago, waiting for my daughter to arrive on the train.   99.99% of the time there’s nothing interesting or nice to say about public bathrooms in places like train stations or airports, but on his day and in this place I was struck by an interesting device hanging on the wall in the men’s room.

This was my first encounter with the Dyson Air Blade, brought to us by the inventor and maker of some of the coolest vacuum cleaners in the world.  I hadn’t heard anything about the Air Blade, and was intrigued by it.

The traditional air blower you find in most bathrooms are noisy, blow water off your hands and on to the floor, and only work if you rub your hands together quickly while it is blowing; then wipe your hands on your pants since they are not dry after using the blower! You know this experience, and it is not good.

The Air Blade is a clever and cool design that has you insert your hands and arms into what looks like a chute that is open on the sides.  It senses when you have placed your arms inside, turns its blowers on and effectively and efficiently dries both sides of your arms simultaneously.  As you move your arms up and down, water is blown away, but not onto the floor.  Your arms are actually dry, your shoes remain dry, your pants are dry and you are left wondering how we could go so many years with products that were all variations on an inferior design that didn’t work.  The Air Blade uses sheets of clean air traveling at 400 mph to dry hands in twelve seconds.   It uses 80% less energy, and is certified hygienic by the NSF.

It is third of the major product lines of Dyson and its leader, James Dyson.  Makers of innovative, bag-less vacuum cleaners that achieved market leadership in the U.K. 22 months after launch, and now blade-less cooling fans, Dyson is a leader in applying true innovation to the necessary tasks in life.  He and his company is showing us that leadership in innovation, design and engineering can all combine to improve the way our lives work, and contribute to customer experience, sustainability and the bottom line.

Checkout the Airblade on your next trip to the rest room.  Especially if you visit the paragon of modern design, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  No, it’s not on display, though it should be.  Instead, it’s hard at work.

What other parts of life can be improved with a customer experience centric view and true innovation in design?

 

That Thing About Cars

What would inspire a bunch of people to spend hours watching a traffic jam?

This weekend, over TWO MILLION people will turn out for a uniquely Detroit event, the Dream Cruise.  Held along Woodward Avenue, a huge boulevard that runs from the Detroit River in downtown Detroit over twenty miles to Pontiac, the Dream Cruise is a celebration of not just the car, but more of the impact cars have had on our American lifestyle.

Since the 50′s, Woodward Avenue was a hot spot for cruising – you and your gang piled into your car (or whatever wheels you could muster) music  blaring, tires screeching, wind in your hair, laughter on a Friday or Saturday night.  Today’s version of the Dream Cruise evokes those memories, and brings cars of many vintages back – but especially those of the 50′s,60′s, and 70′s.  Convertibles, big Buicks or Chevys, all generations of the venerable Mustang and Corvette, muscle cars like the Camaro and Challenger, which have been nicely reborn all turn out en mass along the cruise and wow people lining either side of the boulevard.

What about this experience is so compelling?

It’s about cars, but even more about the role cars have played in our lives and the emotion they provoke.  How do cars tap into our emotions?  Yesterday, I saw Bob Lutz, now one of the co-chairmen of GM and a great car guy, on camera talking about the new Chevy Volt.  Bob has always had a major influence and impact on the role of design in car crazy Detroit.  Seeing him reminds me of a quote of his about GM that I love:  “I see us being in the art business.  Art, entertainment and mobile sculpture, which coincidentally, also happens to provide transportation.”  Hmm, the art and entertainment business – certainly a way to view the car in a much different light than just the practicality of getting from point A to B on four wheels.

One of the other legendary car designers of recent times is Freeman Thomas, who designed the New Beetle for Volkswagen, and the very cool Audi TT – both cars you can’t help but stare at as they go by, or itch to get behind the wheel and drive.  This weekend, we’ll see a number of Thomas’ recent creation, the Chrysler Prowler – a ultra cool retro roadster – all fenders, struts  and growling engine – pure fun.  More than metal, glass and a bunch of features, car design can reach us on a unique level.  Here’s a favorite quote of mine by Thomas:  “Car designers need to create a story. Every car provides an opportunity to create an adventure.  The Prowler makes you smile.  Why?  Because it’s focused.  It has a plot, a reason for being, a passion.”

Car design indeed has an impact that brings visual, tactile and sound elements together that connect all of our senses in a moving package.  Driving a car is uniquely human.  The experience of the car sends a message about us – and is a package of merged personality of human and machine.  You remember your car, for all of its glories and foibles.  The stories live on and grow over time.  They give you guideposts for chapters in your life.  A great car is an interesting model for the integration of elements that make or break the customer experience.  Create a story. Invoke passion.  Create acontext for memorable moments.

For the customer experience, this is the impact of design at full, growling power.  Let’s Cruise!