#thoughtsatwork

*helping guests*

thinking to myself “looking me doing the Disney point and shit”

I recently moved to the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia to join Intuitive Company’s research and strategy team. I want to share a recent experience with you today, because it may seem familiar and made me wonder what “user experience” really means to some companies in today’s world. Companies seem to focus on the digital side of things, but is that really all there is? Gaining access to those digital products is great, but help when you need it is just as integral. Here’s my story.

  Moving can be stressful. Once you’ve gone through the challenging task of finding a place to live, you still have to pack, move, and unpack. But then the real adventure begins.

  You have to go through the process of transferring electric and/or gas services. If you’re lucky you might be able to do all this over the phone or online. If not, get ready to take time off to stand in a line at those offices to show them the paperwork to get it all sorted out (I swear, I am who I say). Done and done, now the ONLY thing left is to get Internet. That’s easy; you do a little research and decide on a good service that you can afford. I went with a particular company because they were at the right price point and they had even received an Emmy Award for User Experience and Visual Design in some of their core products. As a UX professional, I was pretty impressed by this achievement.

  Anxious to have Internet, I started the process of getting my new service installed. I called them up to give them details, but that’s when things started heading downhill from a “user experience” perspective for me. I called them to set up an appointment and they told me they’d come out to my place some time between 3-5pm. Okay.

  I left the office early that day to be available for the technician. No one came or even called during the anticipated time frame. So, I called the number given during my earlier conversation with them only to find out that I am supposed to call another helpline. Before I could dial the other number, I received a call from the technician. Here’s how it went down:

My conversation with the technician

  At 9:30 pm, I called Customer Service to tell them about my frustrating experience. While I was going on and on about it, the representative cut me short by saying that they can come the next day between 7-9 am. Note how they fail to apologize even once in my interactions with them so far.  As expected, no one came until 9 am the next day. I furiously called them back to cancel my request. I was then told that a technician is working RIGHT NOW at my apartment. I panicked as I was already at work, and called a friend to look over the installation in my absence (God bless him!). The technician offered a $20 credit for our ‘troubles’, which felt more like he was belittling my frustrations.

  This whole process made me consider what “user experience” means to companies in today’s world. Where does it begin and end? Is it just the digital experience? Does a company’s UX team pay no attention to the experience of “getting the services”? (Answer: No, because that group sits in a different part of the building most of the time). They claim to understand what the user wants, but it seems to be missing a very big chunk of the real experience.

  From some online research, I found that the UX team at this particular company is focused on developing and designing the TV experience, but is leaving out the service aspect of their products. A simple feedback loop for the user in my scenario would have saved so much confusion and running around. I later found out about their recent effort to create an app that prevents these issues, but it also misses the mark because it tries to replace rather than support the experience. One thing that we believe here at Intuitive is that the digital experience is not just about human-computer interaction, it’s about human-to-human interaction (just ask Jes – it’s her favorite thing to say at cocktail parties). The digital experience should enhance our human interactions, not fully replace them.

UX can and should go beyond the digital. It’s the “strategy” part of what we do at IC during a research and strategy project. We seek to understand as much of the user’s interaction with a tool as we seek to understand about the interaction users have with the world around them. We consider the relationship users have with both the products and the services a company offers and find strategic ways to help one support the other. Whether we’re thinking about the role of customer service representatives or your financial advisor, UX strategy needs to consider the holistic experience of the end user.