The role of experiences in business: digital experience design (DXD)
How do experiences shape business success?
“Exceptional. This word evokes a variety of emotions, from joy to fear. The joy stems from the possibility of realizing the best version of ourselves. Conversely, the fear arises from standing out from the crowd.”
Only a few people and brands take responsibility for their uniqueness. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Disney, Airbnb. They are not afraid to genuinely impact the world. They aim to linger in our memories for a long time.
What's the secret to their uniqueness? They don't just sell products. They sell experiences.
And that's what today's post is about – experiences, specifically:
What are experiences?
Experiences according to Daniel Kahneman.
Introduction to digital experience design.
Why designing experiences is important and how it impacts business.
7 tips to deliver unforgettable experiences to your customers.
What is an experience?
An experience encompasses everything we go through when using a product, a service, or when we are in a certain place. It consists of 6 elements. For instance, consider the experience of visiting a cafe:
Sensory perception: How the cafe looks, smells (e.g., freshly brewed coffee), the sounds you hear (e.g., background music, chatter), and how the coffee tastes.
Interaction: How you order coffee – is the staff friendly, is the process quick and easy, how easy is it to find a place to sit.
Emotions: Do you feel relaxed and welcome, or stressed and uncomfortable.
Context: Are you there alone for a quick coffee before work, or for a long meeting with a friend.
Meaning and purpose: Does the cafe meet your needs, whether it's a place to work or socialize.
Memory and reflection: How will you remember the visit – as a pleasant break or an experience you'd rather avoid in the future.
These components collectively form your cafe experience. However, how you live through and later remember this experience doesn't always directly reflect all its elements.
Here is where Daniel Kahneman's concept comes in, the Nobel Prize laureate and his research partner, Jason Riis. They split the definition of experience into two perspectives:
Experiencing Self - continuously records events occurring in our lives and forgets most of them. Notices difficult moments.
Remembering Self - constructs the story of the experience afterwards, deciding how we evaluate the experience and whether we are satisfied with a particular product or service. It doesn't focus on all details but rather on the most significant moments and final impressions (peak–end rule).
In the context of visiting a cafe, the "remembering self" will decide whether and how you'll remember this place, influencing your future decisions – whether you'll return to this cafe or recommend it to others.
Which "self" should we focus on in designing experiences? Both. Effective experience design involves creating moments in life that are worth both living and remembering.
Experiences in the digital world
The same applies to digital experiences. Nowadays, as the lines between physical and virtual realities blur, designing digital experiences becomes crucial in creating engaging, meaningful, and consistent online presence.
However, as the digital market becomes increasingly saturated and high-quality UX/UI becomes the norm, just providing a functional and aesthetic interface is no longer enough to truly stand out. Users expect more - they seek experiences that have personal significance, engage them on multiple levels, and build a deeper connection with the brand.
The answer to rising user expectations is digital experience design (DXD). This discipline focuses on delivering holistic and personalized experiences. DXD extends beyond interface and usability to understanding and designing the entire user journey with a brand, creating deeper and more personal connections.
The fundamentals of digital experience design
Digital experience design is a broad concept. It encompasses – user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and customers experience (CX). You might already be familiar with these terms, but just in case, I'll explain:
User interface (UI) - this is the visual layer of a website, app, or any other product. It's the point of interaction between the user and your brand. It should be not only aesthetic but also clear, well-organized, and easy to understand.
User experience (UX) - focuses on understanding user behaviors and preferences to optimize the overall usability and satisfaction of a digital product. Includes research, building information architecture, prototyping, and testing.
Customer experience (CX) - focuses on the entire spectrum of experiences a customer has with a brand, from first contact through after-sales customer service. It's not just interaction with the product, but also with customer service, the purchasing process, packaging, marketing, etc.
But that's not all. We shouldn't forget about thoughtful and emotion-evoking branding, UX research, content strategy, service design, interaction design, accessibility and inclusivity, and a seamlessly functioning technological backbone. Everything must work and interact to make steering unforgettable experiences possible.
Why is experience design so important?
Designing experiences is critical for every industry because it influences how people feel while interacting with a brand and using a product or service.
Exceptional experiences increase satisfaction, build long-term and strong relationships. Customers willingly return and naturally share their stories with others.
But how does this translate into business?
Loyalty leads to repeat purchases and positive reviews. You increase customer life value (CLV) this way.
Customers willingly talk about your brand, attracting new customers without additional marketing costs - word-of-mouth marketing, the most powerful tool today.
Positive experiences build trust in the brand, which can result in higher transaction values and less price sensitivity.
Investing in digital experience design pays off extensively. However, it's a long-term game. This entire process takes time. Not all entrepreneurs have the patience for it. Considering how much there is to gain (and lose), such an attitude is a waste of an opportunity to build something unique and leave the competition far behind.
Remember, regardless of how high a priority this is for you, your customers will have experiences with your brand, product, or service. Each interaction will evoke some emotion - what that emotion will be largely depends (mostly) on you.
If you've reached this point, I have a few experience design tips for you:
A few tips to conclude
To create unforgettable experiences, you must offer more than your customers expect - the bigger the expectations your message generates, the more you must do to delight your customer. Sometimes it's worth leaving some room for positive surprises.
Take care of external and internal experiences - internal culture is reflected in your external experiences. Look at your business through the eyes of customers and employees. Listen carefully to what they say. Observe their behavior to discover motivations and needs that remain unspoken and unsatisfied. Solve problems before they even realize they exist.
Personalize experiences - life circumstances significantly impact how experiences are perceived, e.g., someone who dislikes cars won't enjoy driving a Ferrari. Moreover, people value an individual approach.
Measure not just financial results, but also customer satisfaction - respond to their feedback. User needs and motivations change, so it's important to stay updated.
Draw inspiration from various sources - innovative ideas often come from outside the industry, which can distinguish your company from the competition.
Integrate online and offline environments - it's about providing consistent experiences everywhere, on every device, at every moment.
Remember about your strategy - experiences should not only meet customer needs and offer something extra. It's important they reflect your brand's values and mission.
Must-read
I thought if I have something valuable to recommend, I would share it here. This could include books, articles, videos, digital products, people, apps, etc. The form is not limited.
Today, I simply must mention the book "The Umami Strategy" by Agnieszka Szostak.
Umami is the fifth taste discovered over 100 years ago in Japan. It makes everything taste better. Just so we're on the same page, this is not a book about food or cooking. It's a metaphor for deeply satisfying experiences that can be applied in a business context to create more engaging and memorable products and services.
If you want to delve into Experience Design not just in digital form, I highly recommend it.
And if you want to provide unforgettable experiences in your business and build an engaging, meaningful, and consistent brand presence online, I'm here to help. Check out my website and and let's create something exceptional together.