{"id":1031968,"date":"2023-02-08T11:08:46","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T19:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/?p=1031968"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:08:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T19:08:46","slug":"creating-peak-experiences-how-to-brainstorm-in-cx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/creating-peak-experiences-how-to-brainstorm-in-cx\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Peak Experiences: How to Brainstorm in CX"},"content":{"rendered":"
Photo by Per L\u00f6\u00f6v<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>
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“What if we came to clients with a collection of solutions<\/em> rather than a collection of problems<\/em>?”<\/p>\n

It was a startling insight that my friend, Greg Iszler<\/a>, pointed out. One of the biggest challenges in the Customer Experience world is we are busy finding problems, but devoting little time to creating great experiences.<\/p>\n

Fixing Problems<\/h2>\n

So called inner loop<\/strong> issues are typically what many have referred to as normal accidents. A fat finger on a customer ID creates an accounting issue with a customer. Someone forgets to put a certain bolt in with a self-assembly furniture kit. A busy drive-through employee forgets to put the nuclear hot apple pie turnover in the takeout bag. In other words, stuff happens.<\/p>\n

In these circumstances many organizations institute ‘hot alerts’ or ‘customer alerts’ whereby they open up a ticket and go through a resolution process with the customer. This is a very basic solution that millions of companies do every day.<\/p>\n

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But let’s say those nuclear hot apple pie turnovers are being missed regularly. Perhaps then we have what is known as an outer loop<\/strong> problem. In these cases, action planning is a useful tool to resolve those systematic issues. Perhaps the apple turnover is a rarely ordered item so it’s easily overlooked. Perhaps the containers are stored in an inconvenient or forgettable location. Whatever the reason, there is a whole process<\/a> for resolving these more institutional issues.<\/p>\n

While all that is fine and admirable, if you remove all the ‘friction’ in the experience what are you left with? <\/p>\n

You have made yourself utterly forgettable.<\/p>\n

Rather than just putting out fires; lunch bag sized and dumpster ones alike, we should focus more on creating great and memorable experiences. This is something that Chip and Dan Heath refer to as ‘peak experiences’ in their excellent book “The Power of Moments<\/strong><\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Ok, but how do you do that? Well, it’s not easy, but it starts with a little bit of discipline, some imagination, and of course a heaping spoon full of curiosity.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Define the Problem<\/h3>\n

Einstein is quoted as saying “If I had an hour to solve a problem I would spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” While I have written extensively about that elsewhere<\/a>, suffice it to say that is a critical first step. <\/p>\n

As humans, we are driven to fix things as fast as possible. There is a reason duct tape and superglue are such hot sellers. They take advantage of our human compulsion to fix things quickly. Before solving a problem, we need to understand it and for whom we are solving it. I have found design thinking principles of documenting three simple components to be helpful in that endeavor. Document and get agreement on:<\/p>\n