BECOMING AN EXPERIENCE CONNOISSEUR

Can someone be a connoisseur of experiences? They certainly can be with wine and roller coasters, so why not? Wine tasting has been raised to an art form (or at least a form of entertainment), with clear steps, techniques, and evaluation criteria. As we think about having experiences it is reasonable to apply the same concepts. How do you experience an experience to get the maximum enjoyment, and create them to get the most impact?

As I look back at my life of both creating and consuming experiences I find that there is a “right way”… so I have created an approach, or means, of becoming an experience connoisseur.

EVERY EXPERIENCE HAS 4 COMPONENTS

Most of us think of an experience as an event, or an accumulation of moments that are linear with a beginning middle and end, but this is an incomplete picture. Experiences actually begin earlier than we think and end later- if at all. The key to being a connoisseur of experiences is to have enlightenment about the components of an experience, and discovering how to enjoy them beyond the event itself.

All experiences have the same 4 components, whether they are simple events like errands or big holiday splurges. These components are Anticipation, Preparation, Participation, and Memory. Knowing these components, their various attributes, and how they add up to an experience can be invaluable. Beyond enabling individuals to be experience connoisseurs, they can be the building blocks of new strategic experiences that most brands today desire to create.

ANTICIPATION

Anticipation is a mental state involving the way we perceive we will feel about a future event. It is the component most often left out when thinking about an experience because it falls outside of the actual event. But the build up can be as enjoyable as the event itself because it triggers the release of dopamine- the brains happy chemical- when we imagine what we will experience. Like a dog getting excited at the mention of a walk, we too experience anticipation when we think about something we enjoy (we just don’t have tails to show it).

Because it involves the mental projection of the future event, a brand that has provided consistently enjoyable past experiences can leverage anticipation. A clear vision of the enjoyment one brand delivers will diminish the role of other competing brands. This is the genesis of brand equity as the anticipation-dopamine connection creates a brand craving. Strong brands foster strong anticipation.

As a connoisseur, learn to relish your brain’s perception of the future event. If you are “spontaneous”, also know that you may be cheating yourself out of a key experience component.

PREPARATION

Preparation is an activity versus a mental state. It involves acting on the anticipation of the event through the making of plans, lists, maps, scripts, and agendas. Preparation is like collecting the ingredients and mixing them before putting a cake in the oven. It is as important as the baking. Whereas anticipation is a personal experience, preparation is more social and often ritualized. When preparing, plans are shared with friends and family, providing positive feelings of validation and a sense of self-confidence. In this way social affirmation can make the actual event more enjoyable through the minimization of anxiety.

Brands that provide tools that can aid in planning with innovative mobile and digital touchpoints, and even coupons and promotions, embed the brand more concretely into the experience.

Connoisseurs enjoy the preparation as a way to externalize their anticipation by acting on it and sharing it. In a way, they can test drive the experience with their friends to see how it fits.

PARTICIPATION

Participation is the event itself, and is usually comprised of many smaller events that happen within a fixed period of time. Ironically the event is often the shortest duration of the experience, yet has the burden of living up to the emotional high of anticipation and the social scrutiny of preparation. Participation is the cake in the oven, and like the cake mix, the goal is to be transformed from one state to another.

Successful participation in an experience changes us, and great experiences change us in positive ways we didn’t anticipate or prepare for. An experience that merely fulfills our anticipation, regardless of how high they were, is not a great experience. Brands that are committed to customer experience need to understand how they can be transformative, and how they can continually innovate to surprise.

Connoisseurs know that the participation is the core of the experience, but is hollow if there is no positive surprise. 

MEMORY

The last component of an experience is memory, and it is the memory that endures. In some ways, the memory component of an experience allows you to have the cake and eat it too- the experience is intact long after the event is over, available to experience again so long as it was worthy of remembering. Since the brain stores negative experiences better than positive ones (likely because we needed to remember dangerous situations), experiences need to be well above our anticipations to stick.

Brands should innovate ways to leave non-physical souvenirs via surprises and delights that are worth remembering and sharing as they create experiences. And memories can begin to seed in the earliest moments of anticipation. (And social media can be an accessory to memory, but not a substitute.)

Being a connoisseur of experiences means appreciating the anticipation, preparation, participation, and memory of the events in your life. Memories get stronger when shared and richer with retold to include the anticipation and preparation, not just the participation.

Like eating a cake versus creating one, experiences are not just the event itself, but also include what comes before and after. Being a creator of experiences means addressing these 4 components as a brand innovates customer experiences and seeks to delight their audience. Focusing on the event is cheating yourself, and under-delivering a brand’s experience potential.

Bill Chidley is a Partner and Co-Founder at ChangeUp. Creating Innovating Experiences that Drive Growth. http://www.changeupinc.com

Tweet the author at @chillbidley

RETAIL UNDER SIEGE

Retail today is a paradox. Store traffic is declining, yet over 90% of retail sales still occur in physical stores. Chains like Radio Shack are closing while successful internet retailers like Birchbox are opening locations. We are in the midst of an upheaval in retail that is caused by the ubiquity of the internet and the smartphone. New ways to acquire the things we want and need are undermining the tried and true business models and tactics of traditional retailers, not unlike how “cord cutting” is shaking the foundations of the television industry.

NEW BEHAVIOR

Today the internet has given consumers a massive virtual store, making shopping in the physical store less convenient and limited. Consumers end up visiting physical stores less to shop, and increasingly only to buy. This turns the role of the store, merchandising, and retail design, upside down. How retailers deliver value, stores are designed, merchandise is presented, and customers are served will need to be rethought. There is real risk of things getting worse for store traffic. The recent fear of “showrooming” has now given way to “webrooming”- where shoppers narrow their choices or find offers online before buying offline.

An article on declining retail traffic in the WSJ last summer nails it: “Instead of wandering through stores and making impulse purchases, shoppers use their mobile phones and computers to research prices and cherry-pick promotions, sticking to shopping lists rather than splurging on unneeded items.” Additionally, replenishment and stock-up trips could be increasingly threatened by the emerging “internet of things”; creating in-home technology that, combined with same-day delivery and subscription, promises to automate the repurchase of basic consumables. Over time, these solutions could siphon off categories like diapers, pet food, and detergent that generate traffic for food-drug-mass retailers.

These new risks are the unintended consequences of technology, and are driving the need to reinvent what makes a brick and mortar retailer relevant. It is a push toward extinction for those who stick with the status quo. How retailers create value will need to shift away from competing on the current right product, right price approach. Retailers today must differentiate on emotional and personalization dimensions, by knowing their customer better, using the very technology that is changing consumer behavior to their advantage. This shift is already underway, and requires the blending of the customer’s online and offline retail journey with shopper data to create something that is greater than the sum- an integrated experience.

INTEGRATED EXPERIENCES

Addressing “omnichannel” is a requirement to be efficient. It provides what customers are already expecting: continuity of promoting, selling, and returning merchandise across a retailer’s ecommerce and physical stores. But it is not a differentiator or guarantee of ongoing success, it only creates parity. “Seamless” goes a step further and ensures that moving from digital to physical channels is not a bumpy ride. Both are important, but not sufficient. Integrated experiences are more powerful: blending the physical and the digital to create a way to not only shop and buy, but also experience a brand.

Enabled by technology that did not exist 5 years ago, shopping and buying can merge under a bigger idea that is not a place, but a brand idea, fostering a two-way relationship that is valuable to the customer and the retailer. Brands like Lowe’s with their “My Lowe’s” approach to managing home projects, and Macy’s industry-leading digital efforts deploying iBeacon technology, are at the forefront of experience integration that successfully moves beyond omnichannel. Integrated experiences don’t have seams at all- they are fluid. The role of the store is to be the confluence of the digital and physical worlds.

NEW EXPERIENCE BENCHMARKS

The new breed of internet retailers like Nasty Gal and Warby Parker see the need for their experiences to have a physical component to better connect with their current, and better communicate with potential customers. For these brands, the physical store is unlikely to usurp their digital store as the driver of revenue, but instead create realness to the brands in ways that a digital experience alone can’t. Not unlike a performer who goes on a concert tour to promote a new album you will download on iTunes, physical stores  for these retailers provide an opportunity to create an experience more interpersonal, more sensorial, and thus more memorable. The physical stores that these online retailers are opening don’t have the same financial motive or ROI as a typical retailer. They should be viewed as brand building efforts- delivering the brand idea in ways it is best experienced and embraced. As such, they do not have the same sales productivity pressures and can seemingly over invest in technology and “brand ambassador” staffing. As the physical component of an integrated experience, they serve as spiritual centers that believers of the brands can make pilgrimages to, and in which new believers are converted. As a result, traditional retailers face a higher benchmark for their own experiences, despite the different business model.

GETTING IT RIGHT

For traditional retailers, getting mobile right is the first battle, but needs to be approached with the physical store in mind. Many retailers are getting the idea that mobile is not a threat, but a tool. More than half (55%) of retailers believe that the main purpose of mobile marketing, point of sales, and other activities is to drive sales at stores, according to a study from retail systems analysts company RSR Research. But all too often this tool is insulated from overall customer experience in the store itself, and not integrated into a unified experience that builds the brand. Retailers need to evolve to offer customers an integrated experience that maintains a robust role for the physical store, wherein mobile is an indispensable shopper resource AND a means to stay meaningfully engaged with the customer. This goal of an integrated experience will require a re-assessment of the business model, different organizational design, new skill sets, new retail design strategies and technologies, and a passion to understand and manage the customer journey.

Bill Chidley is a Partner and Co-Founder at ChangeUp. Creating Innovating Experiences that Drive Growth. http://www.changeupinc.com

Tweet the author at @chillbidley