While I know it is chic to talk about “The Experience Economy,” I think it is critical to appreciate the differences between being in the Experience business (capital “E”) and designing the customer experience (small “e”) as a means for pleasing customers and facilitating the sales of goods and services. Are you actually selling Experiences – or is the customer experience a more mundane (or not so mundane) enabler for the sale of traditional goods and services?
The companies to which many consultants always point as role models to emulate – Disney, Ritz-Carlton or Starbucks, for example – are in the business of selling customer Experiences. Their product, their service, their value proposition, their raison d’être is the Experience. And because their Experiences are sought after strictly for the value of the Experience, Experience-based businesses typically are able to charge premiums for the Experiences they sell.
People do not and will not, by contrast, come to the bank (or insurance company, office supply store, medical facility, gas station, etc.) to buy a “banking (insurance, etc.) experience”. Banking is a means to an ends, not a desired destination for an Experience. Lattes, Internet access, couches or Ferris wheels for that matter may make it more pleasant or even fun when “going to the bank,” but consumers and businesses use banks for their banking needs, not for their entertainment or Experience value. In both consumer and B-2-B markets, most companies, alas, are not in the business of selling Experiences; rather, they sell functional, even indulgent products and services – which might include, by the way, coffee and a clean, safe place to sleep.
The line between experience and Experience often is somewhat blurred. Play gyms at McDonalds to keep the kids entertained; museum-like displays and simulated outdoors venues at Cabela’s to prime the interests of enthusiasts; gadgets galore at Best Buy to engage customers; I-everything at Apple stores to permit people to experience Apple products; and comfy chairs and couches for reading at Barnes & Nobles (RIP Borders) are but a few examples. Fun, in-store experiences, however, still are different than selling Experiences. At the end of the day McDonald’s sells burgers, Cabela’s sells guns, Best Buy sells electronics, Apple sells I-everything (and Macs too), and B&N sells books. They are not in the business of selling Experiences. Rather, they use in-store customer experiences to entertain, educate and engage customers as a means of building rapport, deepening relationships and selling stuff.
Many times companies market the experience consumers might enjoy from using their products – there isn’t an SUV commercial made that doesn’t depict the “off-road experience,” even though only a tiny fraction of SUV owners ever go off-road (intentionally, at least). But is this any different than promoting other benefits, such as safety or comfort, as hooks to sell cars?
Build-A-Bear sells Experiences; by the way, you also get a teddy bear. Even if they do have a fantastic display of life-sized wonders to attract customers and promote sales, FAO Schwartz sells stuffed animals. For a time my wife had a paint-your-own pottery studio: customers paid to have a fun Experience – those who had fun came back, those who didn’t never returned. The pottery – whether a work or art or ugly as sin – was incidental to the Experience. While they may try to engage customers with splashes of colors, beautiful displays and even pleasing aromas and other sensory experiences, Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel sell pottery (and a few million other things) – they sell stuff, they don’t sell Experiences.
The bottom line: while the Experience business may be more enjoyable (I absolutely l-o-v-e-d working at my wife’s pottery place and selling fun), most businesses – both B-2-B and consumer – need to focus on investing in customer experiences and processes that pay dividends by building and reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty. By all means, companies should work ever harder to better the customer experience, perhaps intentionally blurring the line into Experiences – but they need to keep in mind that experiences usually are inputs into the larger equation of customer loyalty, not Experiential outputs that they sell.
Yes, there is much to be learned from the Disneys and other rock stars in the Experience business. But while I may have to live out my days in a consultant protection program as the price for my heresies, I can’t brook listening to the pundits who hold up false role models and act as if every purchase of gas or trip to the bank should be an act of self-actualization for customers. (Hey, anyone interested in a research consultancy Experience?)
Howard –
Far be it for me to take serious issue with your POV (!?!); however…there is a growing recognition, by both b2c and b2b companies, that ‘experience’ and ‘Experience’ are gowing more conjoined. You’ve noted that the line between them is often blurred. Many companies are focusing on generating a truly unique, distinctive branded experience for customers, giving more clarity to this concept.
In my CustomerThink article from earlier this year, I’ve cited several examples, which will be familiar to many: http://www.customerthink.com/article/customer_advocacy_and_the_branded_experience. You’ve opined that banking, and other financial services companies, don’t focus on creating optimum customer experiences. However, USAA does a great job through their service operation. Umpqua Bank, an organization with 185 locations in California, Oregon, and Washington, stands out among its peers by making the bank a social destination. (Note: Market Probe recently sponsored a customer advocacy symposium at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference in Chicago; and, I learned about this firsthand from a recently retired Umpqua senior executive.). In our geo area, Wegmans is as much a branded experience as a supermarket shopping visit.
Agree that many purchases cannot, or will not, be branded; but, that said, more and more companies are exploring the benefits of making their touchpoint expereinces (purchase, use, service, etc.) more valuable and distinctive.
Best regards.
Michael
Michael W. Lowenstein, Ph.D., CMC
Executive Vice President
Market Probe (www.marketprobe.com)
Thanks, Michael. As always, I appreciate your comments. But let’s be clear: I did not “opine that banking, and other financial services companies, don’t focus on creating optimum customer experiences.” I said that they are not in the Experience business and that consumers are not looking for financial services experiences as an ends in themselves.
And by no means do I suggest that companies should not improve the customer experience: to the contrary, I said “most businesses – both B-2-B and consumer – need to focus on investing in customer experiences and processes that pay dividends by building and reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty. By all means, companies should work ever harder to better the customer experience, perhaps intentionally blurring the line into Experiences.”
You have cited some additional examples where companies have tried to blur the lines, but have not challenged my basic premise.
• Umpqua may be doing a great job of positioning itself as “part of the neighborhood,” holding events and activities at their branches and making their website, at least in part, a community space. Great promotion and positioning, a little blurring of the experience/Experience continuum, but does it change the nature of what they sell? If I am not mistaken, they still sell exactly the same array of financial services they offered previously. Call me when people go the branch to spend the day on a “financial services experience,” not when they go to the branch for community activities that the bank astutely sponsors at their venues.
• USAA has a leg up in the Experience arena by virtue of being affinity group based. Unlike Umpqua and others that have tried to get customers truly engaged in commenting and blogging on their site, USAA has been far more successful because of the inherent affinity of members and the shared community of interests they have. USAA has long been recognized as a leader in offering outstanding customer experience (small “e”) and has been rewarded with much-envied customer loyalty. I’m not sure how this does anything other than add emphasis to what I wrote.
• Wegman’s has blurred the experience/Experience line further, designing their stores, at least in part, more like a marketplace for strolling with a number of specialty shops than a traditional supermarket and offering cooking classes. That said, for all of the times you and I have gone out for lunch together, I never recall you suggesting that we take in a Wegman’s Experience? They offer a great branded experience in part of the store; the rest is strictly traditional supermarket. Either way: great store, excellent reputation for customer service (experience); but I seriously doubt many people go to Wegman’s to hang out if they are not doing their food shopping.
I am a strong advocate of businesses enhancing the customer experience, branding and personalizing that experience, and even blurring the line into Experiences. As I wrote in my post: “much can be done to snazz-up those experiences and interactions to make them more customer-friendly, engaging and, perhaps, even fun. Yes, those experiences can become key differentiators from the competition, ways to attract customers and enhance customer loyalty.” But in the large majority of instances these changes do not alter the nature of the products and services they sell.
Michael and Howard, I think you are actually arguing for the same point. But I would add this: who is it that really delivers either the experience or the Experience? It is usually the employee (or is it Employee?) I believe where most brand differentiation breaks down is on the front line… because most organizations have not done a strong enough job of making that robust connection between brand (and the desired experience that captures the brand) and the behaviors required for the customer interfacing employee to actually deliver the experience. I love how you put this, Howard: “most businesses – both B-2-B and consumer – need to focus on investing in customer experiences and processes that pay dividends by building and reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty”. I firmly believe that the “investment” you speak of lies mostly in the business focusing in on ensuring that front line brand differentiators (employees) have both the brand message and the skills to communicate that message in a way that connects with customers on the practical and emotional levels. Whatever the message is, it is still the messenger that has most to do with effective delivery.
Dr. John R Miller
Pretium Solutions
http://www.pretiumsolutions.com
John –
Absolutely agree that optimal customer experiences are built on a foundation of invested, well-trained, customer-focused employees and interaction processes designed to meet or exceed customers’ expectations and build trust. I’ve conducted much research, and written extensively, on this, including a short article in CustomerThink: http://www.customerthink.com/blog/driving_customer_loyalty_behavior_through_employee_ambassadorship_vs_employee_engagement, plus several chapters in my book, The Customer Advocate and The Customer Saboteur.
Companies which have done this well are, typically, widely-recognized branded experience exemplars in their business sectors: Starbucks, Zappos, Southwest Airlines, Chick-fil- A, Umpqua Bank, The Container Store, Apple, Baptist Health Care, Zanes Cycles, Singapore Airlines, Intuit, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Ritz-Carlton, WestJet, Edward Jones, IKEA, USAA, Rackspace, Disney, etc., etc. From everyday customer experiences, they create Customer Experiences.
Michael Lowenstein, Ph.D., CMC
Executive Vice President
Market Probe (www.marketprobe.com)
I think we read the same hymnal, John: the primary “delivery system” for the e/Experience typically is the employees.
Of course, employees have to be supported and encouraged and work in a culture that both permits and prompts them to do their best for customers. So I think it is essential to have both the systems and processes that facilitate employees in providing the customer experience, as well as employees motivated and trained to deliver on the experience (or Experience, as the case may be).
I think the company has to provide the foundation — the systems and processes — that enable employees. Only then can employees be empowered and supported to deliver the WOW!
But the WOW, I still contend, does not automatically transform the customer experience into an Experience business. To seize on the most mundane of the examples you offer, Chick-fil-A may have engaged, happy employees offering excellent service — but they are in the fast food, eat-on-the-run-while-in-the-mall business. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that business — but in no way, shape or form are they in the business of selling Experiences.
Chick-fil-A mundane? I could cite multiple articles extolling customers’ testimonies about their Chick-fil-A experiences, but I’ll settle for this one, with an embedded song: http://www.koreymcmahon.com/2011/09/creating-a-remarkable-customer-experience/