User Experience: Only one part of the puzzle

1st July 2011, by David S

Most of the time, blindingly obvious statements don’t contribute anything to the world. 

But sometimes – rarely – they’re worth making as a stark reminder to those of us who get absorbed within a project’s world and forget to join all of the dots together. 

So, here goes. One blindingly obvious statement coming up. Ready? 

The user experience does not begin and end with digital. 

Now that’s been said, let’s take a look at a few examples… 

• Booking a flight online is easy and helpful. But it’s not so helpful if the post-purchase experience becomes painful and the pre-flight hassle turns out to be worse than expected. 
• Ordering Christmas gifts online is perfect for getting that smug feeling that you don’t have to wade through the festive masses on a rainy high street. Not so much when nothing arrives in time because the UK grinds to a halt whenever we get a bit of snow. 
• Getting excited about a hotel through its website, validating your choice through reviews on TripAdvisor (yes, even when you scrolled down to the negative comments) and setting off – only to be disappointed with poor check-in and a room that overlooks a wall. A wonderful start to your break. 

You get the picture. It’s the whole experience that makes customer satisfaction happen. Whether at work or in our own time, we’re always engaged in user experiences. And they’re only as good as our most recent experience, online, offline, phone, mail, text, or face-to-face. 

Of course, the digital side of things always needs to work – and work well. It needs to be simple and efficient, engaging and rewarding, fun when required and serious when needed. All things we strive to achieve in what we do for our clients every day. But all that work falls over if the wider world experience shatters the image created by online interactivity, functionality, creative and copy. Of course, sometimes digital sucks as well – so it’s important to get the whole experience right. 

So, what’s the overall point? Like those blindingly obvious statements, it’s actually really simple. 

Think like a customer in everything you do. 

• If I was a customer, would this experience be positive? 
• Am I confident that this digital work leads to another experience of equal quality? 
• If I have doubts, who do I need to raise my concerns with? 
• What about the experience before the digital one? If there isn’t one, should there be? 

Normally, people don’t segment their experiences. Customers don’t think by channel. They don’t think digital, DM, PR, TV or press – they think company, product, service, value and quality. Any one touchpoint can annoy and disgruntle. But any one touchpoint can also delight and reward. Join them up and provide a great end-to-end experience and you’ve really achieved something. 

And – something else that’s blindingly obvious – by doing so, you’ll make more money.