Creating WOW!
Being the same as everyone else sucks.
A worksheet that will help you WOW your clients and stand out in the market.
Your target market can't find you and won't remember you, and your sales will be lower than they need to be. This paper will start you on the way to identifying ways to WOW — right away.
The model
Eight facets, four axes
There are eight facets of experience, and they sit along four axes that surround your offering. Every one is a place a client forms an opinion about you, whether or not you designed it. Every one is also a place you can be deliberately different.
The eight are scored 0 to 10. The goal is not a perfect ten on all eight — you will see in a moment that the best-known experience companies in the world do not manage that either. The goal is a shape a client can recognise.
The eight
What each facet actually means
Facets that sit opposite each other on the map are shown together here. Only the last pair is a true trade-off, and the paper says so plainly.
Axis 1How it feels
Emotions
Emotions are among the most powerful of the experiences. This is the Wow! factor — and there are hundreds of them, each one a way to connect a client to your offering.
- Fun
- Funny
- Funky
- Intense
- Love
- Adoration
- Appreciation
- Valued
- Affirmed
- Connected
- Safe
- Unexpected
- Entertaining
Senses
Engaging the senses brightens the whole experience. Soft music, a hint of fragrance and good light is a different business from strobes and graffiti — and both are right for somebody. Pick on purpose.
- Sight
- Sound
- Smell
- Touch
- Taste
Axis 2What it is worth
Intrinsic Value
The perceived value of the offering itself. Provide high-end services at a low-end price and the value may be great — intrinsic value is the gap between what a thing is worth and what it costs.
- Free
- Extra value
- Meets needs fully
Environment
Environmental experience is the use of space to engage the senses — and space now includes the call, the document and the inbox, not only the room.
- Space
- Temperature
- Décor
- Feng shui
- Openness
- Layout
- Flow
Axis 3Who and how
Personality
Some companies differentiate on the personalities and attitudes of their people — Southwest, Chick-fil-A, Nordstrom. Building a culture that supports those attitudes is not easy, but it pays dividends. Literally.
- Genuine caring
- Walked over, not pointed
- Help beyond the offering
- Treated like a guest
Process
Process experience follows your flow of business. There are usually speed bumps at the transitions, and each one is a moment of disconnection from your offering.
- Remembered preferences
- Walked to checkout
- Immediate follow-up
- Graceful handoffs
Axis 4Less or more
Simplicity
Google beat Yahoo! on an empty page — faster loads and less clutter. Simplicity is also the ease with which someone gets what they want from you: how few steps sit between wanting and having.
- Easy to buy
- Fewer offerings
- Clear steps
- Faster start
Richness
Richness is the completeness and depth of your offering and everything around the interaction — Disney theme parks, a total solution, more than is strictly necessary in a way that is appreciated.
- Total solution
- Depth
- More than necessary
- Appreciated abundance
Simplicity and richness are the pair to watch. Richness is not necessarily the opposite of simplicity — but it can be. If more is making it harder for a client, it has stopped being richness.
Multiple media
A facet only counts where a client meets it
Each facet can be carried on several channels at once. A warm personality that only exists in person, and never in your writing, is a facet scoring far lower than you think.
Visual images
What they see before they read a word
Spoken words
What you and your team actually say out loud
Written words
Site, proposal, invoice, email
Staff countenance
The face that greets them
How it fits together
Whether all the pieces agree
Worked examples
How to read a map
Two companies famous for experience, plotted at the values published with the original worksheet. Notice that neither one is a circle.
Build-A-Bear Workshop
Kids build their own stuffed animal and give it a heart, a voice and a name. It engages every sense, the staff enjoy the work, and a standardised process runs inside a lively environment. The price of a new friend is about $25 — a tremendous value too.
- Emotions 10
- Intrinsic Value 10
- Personality 8
- Simplicity 9
- Senses 8
- Environment 8
- Process 10
- Richness 9
Disney
Widely regarded as one of the best experiential companies in the world. Walt and Roy took the theme park from a seedy establishment to a household name by focusing on staff development and repeatable, enjoyable experiences for guests.
- Emotions 10
- Intrinsic Value 7
- Personality 7
- Simplicity 5
- Senses 10
- Environment 10
- Process 8
- Richness 9
Disney scores 5 on simplicity and still wins. Build-A-Bear scores 8 on senses and still wins. Nobody wins on all eight — a lopsided map is not a failing map, it is the whole point. What you cannot afford is a flat one.
Now plot yours
Score your own offering on the eight. Be honest rather than generous — a flattering map tells you nothing you can act on.