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Experience architecture: A framework for designing personalized customer interactions

Design Management Journal, Spring 2001 by Rose, David

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Know your customers; design accordingly. Thus David Rose advocates the personalization of digital relationships. He

stresses the value of integrating electronic communications with other consumer contacts. He reviews different techniques for enhancing loyalty and commitment. He recommends distilling "patterns" and precisely measuring the return from investments in different types of consumers and communication strategies.

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When Kinko's revamped its Web site, the inspiration came not from the boardroom, but from the shop floor. As part of a team of consultants from Viant Corporation, a consulting company focusing on building digital businesses, I donned a sky-blue Kinko's apron and masqueraded as a store assistant in order to scrutinize customer behavior. I learned a surprisingly simple truth: Customers fell into two distinct categories-the Hand Holders and the Paper Chasers. The Paper Chasers strode in knowing exactly how their brochure or business stationery should look They wanted to get in and out as fast as possible. In contrast, the Hand Holders thumbed nervously through the books of paper samples and timidly asked for advice.

Back in the office, our team redesigned the site around the needs of these two groups. Previously, the site had simply detailed Kinko's range of products and services. The new site (figure 1) has a "get ideas" section, with tips for the novice on how to create bold presentations, eye-catching party invitations, and impressive resumes. Meanwhile, Kinko's savvy consumers can still accomplish their tasks quickly by clicking on "local store services."

The foundation of a successful enterprise, as this experience reminded me, is the customer relationship. But nurturing relationships with thousands of diverse customers is easier said than done. One size does not fit all: The Paper Chasers would have been irritated by advice, while the Hand Holders would have been overwhelmed without guidance.

Inspired by work with clients such as Kinko's, a Viant team is refining a personalization methodology that we call "experience architecture.' It's a framework for understanding customers and designing offerings tailored to each customer segment.

Most e-commerce ventures are still working out how to do this. But when you think about it, even a novice car salesman is familiar with this process. As soon as a customer steps onto the lot, the salesman rapidly brackets him or her according to income level, marital status, preferences, and personality. A young single man might be guided toward a stylish sports car, a married couple toward a reliable SUV. The salesperson will engage in friendly banter with the young man and take a more straightforward approach with the married couple (notoriously the most suspicious of car buyers).

But it's more difficult for an organization to do what the car salesman does. Where he can rely on intuition, the organization needs a framework. That's where experience architecture comes in. It means:

* Designing for multiplying customer channels. Maintaining a consistent customer dialogue across all available channels (not just Web site, point of sale, and call center, but also wireless phones, Web-enabled PDA, and in-store Web kiosks).

* Creating personalized experiences for different customer segments. Getting to know your customers and prioritizing the most valuable ones; taking inspiration from off-line designers to create experiences that satisfy and, where appropriate, surprise.

* Accelerating the customer's progress toward brand loyalty. Investing in technologies designed to coax the customer from awareness and interest to loyalty and evangelism.

* Establishing metrics. Continually measuring success to maximize the ROI of the customer relationship.

* Organizing the business around customers. Appointing a team whose top priority is the customer experience.

Managing the multi-channel zigzag

Today more than ever, companies face the challenge of providing a consistent offering across multiplying channels-from Web sites, Web chat, and e-mail to wireless phones and Web-enabled PDAs (figure 2). More than 30 percent of online shoppers, according to Forrester Research, access two or more channels to straighten out customer service problems. And a large fraction of consumers (29 percent) gather information online but make the purchase offline. Knowing this, a housewares store, for example, might add Web kiosks so that consumers who have done research on kitchen appliances at home can later retrieve their wish lists in person. Similarly, if a company has kept a customer on hold for 15 minutes or more, he or she should automatically receive an e-mail the next day with an apology and even a coupon. Earthlink, a leading ISP, has already established a policy of a next-day telephone apology to customers kept on hold-and this has been extremely popular. It's clear that consumers expect to move freely from PCs to mobile devices to brick-and-mortar stores, and that companies must be able to keep up with them. This multi-channel zigzag (figure 3) is a trend that's likely to continue.

Business Services Industry

Experience architecture: A framework for designing personalized customer interactions

Design Management Journal, Spring 2001 by Rose, David

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