If you’ve read any of my blog posts, then you’re aware that I believe we’re now in an experience economy.

If that’s true, and experiences are what customers use to differentiate fungible products and services (pretty much all products and services these days – if you believe you’re actually in a category of one then either you are delusional or the market will think you are), then we can also act as our own customers and create customer experiences for ourselves that make our lives richer using all the principals of experience design.

Bonus: by experimenting with the principals of experience design on yourself you get a risk free way of learning-by-doing which makes it much easier to think in this way about customer and employee experiences.

I recently bought a new bicycle. The thing about bikes is that they’re commodities. The model has exactly the same spec no matter which shop you get it from. A shop down the road from me had the one a wanted, and a shop 2 hours away from had the same one.

No brainer…
Obviously I chose the shop 2hrs away.

Then I rang up my parents and asked if they were keen on a getaway, because I can design my own customer experience.

Quick Google search and I found a farm with mountain bike trails 15 min from the shop. Even better, the farm also has a wedding/function venue, so they have accommodation. It wasn’t over a long weekend, or school holidays, so it wasn’t expensive.

Now instead of just picking up the bike from a shop down the road, which is simply a transaction, I have an experience and a great story for my ‘Remembering Self’.

I have a road trip with my parents, exploring a new location, hiking on the farm together, waking up and rolling straight onto some new trails on my new bike together with my dad. Every time I ride that bike, my Remembering Self has that story.

If I’d just gone to the shop down the road all I’d have is a till slip.

Life is simply better through the lens of experience design, for ourselves, our loved ones, our employees, our customers. You can make the world better through better experiences.

I hope you do something remarkable.