Which
of these is a better experience?
In
a restaurant:
- When
you walk into the restaurant, the hostess welcomes you warmly and
takes you to your table. The interior decoration and overall ambience
are attractive and comfortable; the food is delicious.
Or, at a different restaurant...
-
The restaurant is called "The Jungle Experience." Upon
entering, the hostess asks you how many are in your "safari."
As you sit at your table, a fine mist of water sprays from a sprinkler
hidden in the plastic foliage surrounding the dining area. The menu
items are all named after rare tropical animals. You have the simulated
experience of dining in a jungle, although the food isn't very good.
On an e-commerce website:
- You're
able to access the product you want in a few seconds, thanks to
prominent links with obvious titles. The search function brings
back accurate and helpful results. The simple product page makes
it easy to compare different products, and then it's easy to choose
a product and check out. Overall, the experience is quick and easy.
Or, at a different website...
-
You're impressed by the attractive logo and the colorful appearance
of the page. It looks similar to the colors and graphics in the
TV commercials for the company's products. There are lots and lots
of features available on every page. Everything has a very professional
appearance. Overall, you get the strong impression that the company
spent a lot of money on the website. Unfortunately, it's hard to
find the product you want.
In
each case, did you choose 1 or 2 as the better experience?
[...]
The comparisons are important because they represent two different
methods of creating a good experience:
-
In
case 1, the company focuses on meeting the customer's needs at each
moment.
-
In case 2, the company creates an "experience" with a
"wow factor" in an effort to impress the customer. The
customer isn't central to the experience, except as a consumer waiting
to be entertained. The focus here is visual flashiness and gratuitous
technology.
Which method does your company pursue more often?
If
it's 1, congratulations: you're operating in the long-term interest
of both the company and your customers. And knowing that, you have
the added benefit of a meaningful job - creating some good in the
world (even if only the business world).
If
2, I wish you the best of luck. You might get short-term gains in
customers and publicity - but without a focus on customers' basic
needs, your business won't be healthy for very long. [...]
In
fact, companies who invest more in the "wow factor" almost
always take resources away from focusing on those more important (if
visually less exciting) issues.
But
think back to the customer. After all, we started the column with
an exercise in customer experience. If you - as a customer
in each of those situations - had to choose between the basics and
the "wow factor," which would it be? If you had to design
the customer experience in each of those situations, and you wanted
to maximize the long-term health of the company, which would it be?
It's
important that your web site has a professional design and it's also
important that your web site looks great so that your customers have
trust and confidence in your company.
However,
before adding bells and whistles to your web site, make sure that
it serves the basics. Your customers must be able to find what they're
looking for on your web site. Once you have achieved that goal, you
can add more features to your site.