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January 11, 2010
 

Nike's Flagship Store in Harajuku, Japan

Via Jeff Staple, here's another beautiful retail store from another great company (Nike) focused on the customer experience and the value of their brand. From the nterview with Masamichi Katayama, designer of the Nike flagship store in Harjuku, Japan:
I struggled for quite a bit with the question of how to bring together the store's location in Tokyo with the culture and business of Nike. Sports culture and fashion culture really come together here and I believe Tokyo is a city where people are very conscious of this combination. 

The street culture of Nike, a tremendous variation of products, a good sense of chaos like the feeling of Tokyo, and the "Nike customer experience" I really had to rack my brain on how to mix all of these things, which is how we designed the space, with such variation. In a way, very much like Tokyo itself. I've been thinking about my impression of the store

I've been thinking about my impression of the store. The whole thing is like a piece of equipment in a playground or a big toy. To play with that idea, not as a store, but as a place for experiencing space and a time where people can get excited and can return to a childlike state. That's what I wanted to express.

I love that last thought: designing a space to return the people who explore it to a childlike state. What an admirable and ambitious goal.

Filed under  //   CX   Nike   UX   brand   design   retail  

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January 7, 2010
 

Boarding Pass Redesign: One Step Toward Reviving the Experience of Air Travel

I love when people take the time to redesign bad products and services. Not necessarily people who are hired to do that redesign, but rather people who have been so offput by a design or experience that they take up a small portion of their life to actually come up with a possible better approach. Gratis. Barton Smith got a lot of press for his re-envisioning of the Facebook UI after the last Facebook redesign was rather poorly received. I'm not sure I'm sold on all the elements of Barton's redesign, but it certainly has plenty of merits. Kudos to him for even taking the time to point the way to a better place. Sadly, if the screen caps of the new FB design being rolled out this week are anything to go by, not much attention was paid to Barton's considerations. Such is life.

This week I came across another fantastic redesign. Tyler Thompson, Creative Director at Squarespace, was inspired to redesign the boarding pass. You can see the redesigns attached below, but his post and the accompanying commentary are plenty humorous. One thing I didn't see mentioned in the comments when I read through them (though it may be there now) is the immediate effect of making boarding passes more accessible. In an aging population, improving readability of everyday documents is a huge benefit to a growing segment of the population. But that's just one of the many benefits of the improved design.

Revitalization by a thousand breaths
It's funny. When you look at redesigns like Tyler's, the need seems so blatantly obvious. In Delta's case, not only would the redesign be a slam dunk in terms of elevating the experience across the board, but the sheer elegance of these documents almost seems to make the trip more meaningful to the consumer. It elevates this small portion of the experience above the noise. And there's value in that.

Today's perception of travel (perhaps rightfully so) is that it's an experience akin to taking a flying bus. Point A to Point B. No frills. Uncomfortable. Cramped. Not something you look forward to. So given this experiential mire that air travel is in, it would seem that even reconsidering and improving small portions of the end-to-end experience would begin to chip away at the sour perception. Instead of death by a thousand cuts, make it revitalization by a thousand breaths. Return flying to an experience more fitting its core purpose: connecting people with one another. 

Parallel to the unboxing process
As another aside on this. The whole boarding pass experience has parallels to the un-boxing process. Both comprise your first perception of the overall brand experience. What if your new iPod came in a box that was the equivalent of a Delta boarding pass. Is that really the first impression you want to give your customers? Is that how you want to start off your relationship? The check-in/boarding pass process sets the tone for the entire flight experience. Why not make it memorable and rewarding?

(download)

Filed under  //   Apple   Delta   accessibility   brand   design   unboxing   ux  

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December 31, 2009
 

Juxtaposing Experiences: Chick-fil-A vs. Walgreens

Chick-fil-a-logo-1

Today my son and I took a train adventure. At two and a half years old, trucks and trains are about as great as things get. It originally started out as a family affair but my daughter woke up with a stomach bug. So instead of a family train adventure, I took my son on the train and my wife took my daughter to the pediatrician. I definitely got the better lot there.In any case, the result of these adventures is a crisp illustration of customer experience success and customer experience failure. 

Chick-fil-A: Customer Experience Superstar
First the success: while the train ride was the real event of the day, we decided to make a stop at the mall to redeem some free Chick-fil-A coupons we received from the same Chick-fil-A a month or so ago. After a short walk from the MARTA station, we get to the mall, which is packed with people, we order our food and sit down. With a two and a half year old, if you're flying solo you need to make sure you have everything you need before you sit down in the mall. Otherwise, you're going to have to get up with your child, which can be an ordeal. Even if you're only walking 10 feet away from your table. Parents out there know what I'm talking about.

You know who else knows this? Chick-fil-A. To help harried parents and all their other patrons, they've got people assigned to rove the food court asking people if they need anything: drink refills, ketchup, anything. It's a small thing but as a parent it makes your meal that much more enjoyable as a parent because it takes some stress out of what can potentially be a very stressful situation. In this particular trip to Chick-fil-A, I had forgotten a fork, knife and salt, which the rover was happy to get for me. Later, she also refilled my Coke. Without her, I would have had none of these things because I would have just had to make do. With the rover, my meal was significantly more enjoyable. 

So this one element is enough to earn Chick-fil-A some solid CX points, but there is so much more that they do that, when added together makes for a great experience. A short list: they offer placemats that stick to the table so the mat doesn't slide around and provides a sanitary eating surface for children, they have Purell hand sanitizing wipes (which come in handy after taking MARTA), and you can exchange your Kid's Meal toys for an ice cream cone (great for rewarding kids for eating all their fruit and nuggets). Is it any wonder that every single parent I know loves going to Chick-fil-a? It's just a really well-conceived dining experience for parents and kids alike.

Walgreens: Customer Experience Failure
On the flip side, after finding out that my daughter had some sort of stomach virus, the pediatrician called in a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine to help my daughter keep some fluids down. She called it into the Walgreens by our house at about 1:15. I go over there at about 2:30 to pick it up only to find out that not only is the order not filled, but the pharmacy doesn't even carry the liquid form, which was prescribed. The pharmacist's response: "We've been real busy and haven't had a chance to call you to let you know." Ugh, that's a pain. So I asked her to call the other Walgreens. They don't have it either. So I asked, "Well what do I do now?". Response: "I don't know."

Now I'm a little peeved but I have a work around since she can't come up with a solution to my problem. I asked if they had the pill form of the same medication available. She said they did. Hooray! But, she tells me, it would require the pharmacist to call the doctor back and change the prescription. Ugh. That's a pain, but understandable for safety reasons. So I ask her to ask the head pharmacist to call for me. She said she would but that it would be a while before they could do that. Why? "We're busy." I tell her the pediatrician's office is about to close and she sort of shrugs and says she'll do it as soon as she can. How long do you think that will be? "Probably thirty minutes."

I'm a little stunned and more than a little upset.

Now, I understand it's hectic, but this medicine is all that's standing in between my sick daughter and a total disaster in my house. Had the pharmacist called right when the discrepancy was discovered, we could have gotten the substitution made. Now, we're out of luck. 

Needless to say, this is a very bad customer experience. A problem was made, no action was taken on the customer's behalf to correct it, the customer wasn't alerted to the issue resulting in the customer making an unnecessary trip to the pharmacy, when the customer arrived no solution was provided, after the customer offers up a solution the company refuses to act on it immediately, when action is taken on the customer's behalf it's too late to be of any benefit to the customer. This is a total failure across the board. 

Of course these are just two interactions with two companies that have hundreds of thousands of daily transactions, but they were respectively memorable enough to provide fodder for this post on juxtaposing great customer experiences with very poor ones. 

Chick-fil-A: Win
Walgreens: FAIL

Filed under  //   CX   Chick-fil-a   Walgreens   brand   service  

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December 30, 2009
 

Near-sighted, Impersonal and Customer-Hostile Is No Way to Go Through Life

Over the holidays, I ran across an article about a campaign that Yahoo! was running to pay baggage fees for passengers out of the Bay area.  While Southwest's Bags Fly Free and the We Love Your Bags ads hit the nails on the head about this openly hostile customer experience, Southwest is a competitor. It makes sense that they would ding the other airlines for this backward policy because they stand to benefit directly from people realizing Southwest treats their customers and their baggage more sensibly. 

What I love about Yahoo!'s campaign is that they have very little to gain from this other than a slight brand lift. They aren't competing with American . . . at all. They're just using an obviously backward customer experience to accentuate a better one that they offer, albeit in a totally different arena: the web. 

From the article:
Yahoo, as part of its holiday giving program, will pay for your baggage fees if you're traveling from San Francisco International or San Jose International airports. They'll be there on Dec. 23, traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year. Not a bad deal for travelers, who likely booked --and payed for -- their tickets, only to learn that they'd have to cough up a bit more dough for the privilege of actually traveling with luggage.

So riddle me this: how customer-hostile must your business practice be that a company that is not directly competing with you builds a portion of their marketing campaign around your practices. Shouldn't this send a clear message to the offending airlines that maybe they should reconsider this model? I mean, your other company friends are feeling sorry for your customers. Is that any way to go through business life? Being a customer bully? Do you really want to be the poster child for bad customer experience?

Now, back to Southwest Airlines and a more traditional competitor-on-competitor marketing attack. How great would it be if Southwest pulled this same stunt. What if Southwest had folks standing at the American Airlines ticketing counter and each time an American passenger had to pay a baggage fee, the Southwest rep would hand over $25 to that customer with a little remark like "Here, let me get that for you. And next time you book a flight, remember we understand that there's no sense in you traveling somewhere with no bags. When you fly on Southwest, your bags fly free."

I'm sure that's violating some airport turf code (i.e. "You no-good Southwest agents stay away from our ticketing counters or we'll call the cops!") or something, but what an  incredibly impactful message delivered at the precise moment of customer pain (paying the fee). Memorable and relatively cheap. Now that's a great marketing campaign.

Filed under  //   CX   Yahoo!. airlines   baggage fee   brand   customer service  

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December 16, 2009
 

Art + Branding - Tokujin Yoshioka Hermes Installation

I don't have much commentary on this. I first saw this video of Tokujin Yoshioka's Hermes installation a week or so ago but it's still running around in my head. Why is it so memorable for me? Not sure. What I do know is that it's simple, understated, surprising and elegant. Those are all good things for marketing.

Filed under  //   art   brand   design   hermes   marketing  

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