A growing number of forward-thinking brands are finding a new competitive differentiator in the ability to connect to, and meet, both basic and higher-level human needs. We call it designing for human experience (HX). HX is not just a fanciful idea, it is about designing for purpose, meaning and relationship building.
A recent survey of business professionals commissioned by Sparks Grove, the experience design division of North Highland, explored their understanding, prioritization and return on investment from implementing human experience principles and revealed that even in today’s data-driven economy, those who pay attention to needs, values, feelings and meaning usually come out on top.
HX-minded organizations champion three core principles: 1) empower their people to care, connect and serve 2) know and live their purpose and story 3) design and deliver on what matters to a person in a particular moment and context. Following these pathways helps organizations understand, explain and uncover unmet customer needs on a deeper level.
Anticipating and responding proactively to these needs helps companies demonstrate true commitment and corporate humanity that supports long-term value and retention through better customer relationships.
When designing for HX, there are four core factors to keep in mind:
- Needs – A thing that is wanted, necessary or requires some course of action.
- Values – The degree of importance of some thing or action.
- Feelings – An emotional state or reaction.
- Meaning – What matters to a person in a particular moment and context.
According to the survey, 92 percent of all respondents design experiences based on needs, making expertise in this area a top enabler of customer experience (CX) and HX success. However, to build a successful HX foundation, designing for feelings and meaning are also critical.
Through the survey results, three HX categories emerged: innovators, adopters and observers. Innovators stood out with a significant focus on designing based on needs (73 percent) and values (76 percent) in addition to regularly designing based on feelings (38 percent) and meaning (54 percent). These organizations pay attention to customers, employees and market forces, prioritizing elements that elicit emotional reactions and address what matters most to customers in specific situations.
Innovators effectively implement customer surveys and leverage data analysis through well-organized CRM systems. They design customer interactions that are accessible, seamless and uncomplicated, tailoring solutions to specific circumstances. While the survey results do not directly indicate specific business activities that led to revenue growth, responses revealed that the majority of HX innovators (57 percent) reported greater than 5 percent revenue growth over the past three years.
On the other side of the spectrum are the HX observers. These organizations only occasionally design based on needs (65 percent) and more than half (53 percent) either occasionally or never design based on values. Furthermore, observers fall behind in designing based on feelings (70 percent rarely or never) and meaning (77 percent occasionally or never). This may lead to the development and rollout of misaligned, unemotional and meaningless experiences that do not optimally account for what customers’ assign importance to, want or require.
Nearly half of HX observers (47 percent) reported revenue growth between only 1-4 percent over the past three years with an additional 12 percent reporting no or negative growth. Observers may want to raise their commitment to HX but are unable to do so. The top reasons respondents cited as preventing their organization to design based on needs include:
- Budget (53 percent).
- Absence of leadership and support (40 percent).
- Lack of organizational alignment (33 percent).
- No clear vision or strategy (33 percent).
According to the survey, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of organizations said they have CX initiatives underway and budget to fund them. Twenty eight percent stated that they have planned future CX initiatives and budget allocations, but the initiatives are not yet underway, citing competing strategic priorities as the biggest challenges to prioritizing CX and giving additional focus to HX initiatives.
Unfortunately, these delays allow innovators and adopters to pull ahead and better deliver genuine human experiences that build more powerful customer relationships and drive positive awareness for brands. Following correlations from the survey results, championing these competitive advantages will likely lead to bottom line growth.
Respondents saw organic/market share growth and customer experience as the top two strategic priorities for 2018, two areas that benefit from smart HX thinking. HX innovators are well positioned to flourish in both areas given their ability to capture, interpret and respond to customer input.
By ensuring that needs, values, feelings and meaning are constantly evolving design factors, these companies move ahead, expand relationships and seize economic opportunities. HX-mindfulness helps these organizations transcend core product and service transactions and build more meaningful relationships with publics at large that address what matters to those groups in particular moments and contexts.
To learn more about this survey and the benefits of prioritizing human experience, please visit: http://sparksgrove.com/perspective.html.
Leigh Cook is senior director and futures practice lead, Sparks Grove. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds an MBA in marketing from Goizueta Business School at Emory University.