Dear CMO:

I installed an HP K8600 printer in my office this weekend. Having spent a good bit of time working with my partner on a retail experience problem, I realized while I was installing this very complex piece of office machinery that I was staring at the solution right before my eyes. While I was installing the driver, of all things. And this is the point – and the minor epiphany – of customer experience.

There are times in the lives of your customers when they’re waiting for you. While there are ample reasons to reduce or even eliminate unnecessary bottlenecks in the delivery of your service, there comes a time when you either can’t or don’t want to skimp. You need to do something correctly, customized for the specific needs of your waiting customer. In my case, this software won’t install itself. As the old proverb says, “we count the faults of those we wait for,” so this can be a problem.

As with any immovable problem, the best and often only way to deal with it is to embrace it and “make the bug a feature.” So how do you make a wait not just bearable but actually valuable? How do you create a brand-enhancing mini-flow-state when you simply need them to wait for a moment? Much like the magician using temporary distraction to draw your attention from his sleight of hand, you create a “trance state,” letting your customer temporarily lose themselves in your micro drama while you deliver the goods.
For HP’s software install, this is done with a well developed slide show of branded messages that reinforce the benefits of the product line (an up-sell), the technical characteristics of the printer purchased (education), providing a web-based ink purchasing site link (e-commerce) and other messages.

Key Takeaways:

Make the bug a feature. If you can’t eliminate the bottleneck, don’t try to cover it up – use the time so well that the wait becomes an event in and of itself, worthy of mention.

When you make people wait, remind them of what a great decision they just made. The immediate post-purchase moment is exactly the moment to remind your customer that they were wise to decide on your brand. We all believe our judgment is sound and typically over-estimate our confidence in our decisions immediately after we’ve made them. So give them the pat on the back they want.

No one is as fervent as the recently converted. Your brand experience doesn’t stop with the packaging, as I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but it’s always worth repeating. We can all agree that the brand experience continues through the product’s lifecycle with you, as the user; but those first critical moments, from installation through initial mastery, will determine the trajectory of your brand experience with that user throughout the user’s total lifetime of loyalty. Let’s spend a lot of time and energy on getting it right up front.

Does your brand experience have a stalling point? A time when you simply can’t do something as fast as your customers want? Take this as a challenge, then, and make the wait better than bearable. Make it word-of-mouth worthy. How would you create a trance state for your brand?

Regards.

P.S.: How would you have improved upon HP’s experience―or your own experience―in creating a trance state? I’ve posted more thoughts on this subject over at Note to CMO, so feel free to comment here or there.