You Can’t Create a Great Experience Without First Relating to Your Customers

Original post: 2/23/2006

Look up the MSN Encarta Dictionary for the verb “experience” and you will find the following definition:

1. Have personal knowledge of something: to be exposed to, involved in, or affected by something

2. Feel something: to feel a particular sensation or emotion

Although you may not realize it, the definition’s focus on personal knowledge, involvement and feelings lies at the heart of every customer experience. It also describes some of the key features of how our brain makes sense out of the things we experience.

Sense

Bernd Schmitt of the EX Group describes how the brain works in his 1999 book, Experiential Marketing. It all starts with the senses. When I walk into my local bakery to buy croissants for breakfast, the first thing that hits me is the blast of warm air when I open the door and the mouth-watering smell of fresh bread. And as I live in Germany, the bakery is crammed full of many different types of bread on display; a visual feast.

Feel

With all of my senses no…