… there are brain features - such as cognitive overload, the need to feel in control, our avoidance of pain, the peak-end rule - that mostly happen unconsciously (we make 95% of our decisions unconsciously). Because we cannot access our unconscious brain, we are not able to predict how we will perceive an experience. So, when a customer is asked about an experience, through no fault of their own, they are bound to leave out some pretty important information…
How to use behavioral science in designing customer journeys?
In other words, how to design customer journeys from the perspective of our overworked brains:
1. Account for mistakes
With 11 million bits of information per second to process, our brains are undoubtedly busy and succumb to mistakes. We leave credit cards in the ATM, we forget to buckle up our seatbelt, we misplace our keys. Brands are expected to be proactive and supportive with respect to potential errors at each touchpoint, not punitive. Products succeed when they are constructed with potential errors or misuses in mind.
2. Make the effort
Customers it when organizations pay attention to the peripheral elements, such as Twitter naming its iconic bird logo Larry and Mattel Inc. endowing Barbie with a backstory. This effort signals how thoughtful an organization is and influences us to believe that the same, if not more, effort is put in the actual product/service we are buying (known as the halo effect). We also like the effort put into the personalization of our experience, within limits, much like Ritz-Carlton hotels greeting guests with a personalized welcome letter in their room.
3. Put customers in the driver’s seat
Effort is a two-way street, and our brains attach value to effort in both directions - meaning we also like to put in some effort ourselves. Tagged the IKEA effect after the Swedish furniture giant, it has broad implications. In the customer journey space, it means that we tend to like things more if we expended effort to create them — it makes us feel competent.
4. Condense the bad, distribute the good
Our brains are programmed to seek pleasurable experiences and avoid painful ones, such as paying (the insula of the brain lights up). Companies such as Amazon and Uber have structured their payment processes to minimize their salience as much as possible – 1-click ordering is perhaps the epitome of payment design.
Besides intensity, frequency also matters. When organizations deliberately combine all negative experiences during one touchpoint and segment pleasant experiences into multiple touchpoints, they greatly enhance the perception of service for customers. At trade shows and festivals, organizers combine all payment and registration requirements upfront, while distributing the most popular speakers, artists, and events throughout the show. At Disney parks, the dull experience of waiting in line for a popular ride is offset by themed queueing areas and other attractions to help pass the time (such as chatting with Mickey Mouse or another beloved character).
5. Avoid cognitive overload
Our brains can get overwhelmed quite easily —when they are asked to remember information (even as little as five digits), choose between a large number of options (choice overload), work harder than necessary to complete a task (sludge), or deal with stress in the form of time pressure or otherwise. To cater to our overwhelmed brains, decompose the customer touchpoints into microtasks and design for clear, salient communications that guide the consumer swiftly and efficiently through the process. Structure options in such a way so as not to paralyze but to facilitate choice. Keep it simple.
Think of KFC’s quick service, simple menu, and convenience; Netflix’s content recommendation engine; Sephora’s augmented reality app that scans a customer’s face and suggest products based on shape and skin tone; and IKEA’s app that virtually "places" true-to-scale 3D furniture in the customer’s home.
6. Provide a sense of control
While too much choice is harmful, too little choice can have the same effect. Customers want to feel like they are in control of their journey, and organizations can cater to this effect by providing them with choices, as well as consistency and status updates. Much like airlines and movie theaters allowing customers to select their seats, pizza delivery services providing real-time updates on order status and online retailers maintaining their websites consistently in line with customer habits.
7. Make it fun
With all the hard work, it is no wonder our brains are eager to have fun. Satisfaction is not the same as fun. Whereas customers tend to be satisfied when their expectations are met or exceeded, fun and delight require a mixture of joy and surprise. For instance, Heinz delighted their customers with Edchup, the collaboration with Ed Sheeran who is such a huge fan of the sauce that he tattooed the brand on his arm. One third of all the brand’s activity on Instagram includes Sheeran — one such post from Ed resulted in 1.1 million likes and over 10,000 comments.
8. Serve experiences in the right order
The order of touchpoints is important because of the brain’s imperfect memory function, and because of the peak-end rule: a cognitive bias that changes the way we remember past events – we base our experience on the emotional peaks and the end of the experience. Delight customers with instances of joy and surprise, and also finish strong. Flight attendants at Cathay Pacific memorize the names of passengers in premium cabins in order to salute them by name as they deplane. Hotel chains have largely eliminated the need for travelers to wait in line for checkout in the morning by collecting their payment information at the beginning of the journey.
