Designing for delight (Giles Colborne)

Designing for delight
Giles Colborne
cxpartners

@gilescolborne
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/waldenpond/3019558999/

This story begins
when a client asked
me a question.

How can we
delight our
customers?

One way to answer
it is to see what
other designers
think is delightful
and look for
common themes.

@gilescolborne

One expert says
this is a ‘Delightful
design’ because it
uses a surprising
navigation method.

@gilescolborne

Click on a link and
The page doesn’t
turn, it scrolls
down, along that
‘road’ to the
content. Cute.

@gilescolborne

Another says This
photography site is
‘Delightful’ because
there’s a hidden
user interface
trick - click the
cursor keys on
your computer to
Flick througH the
slides quickly.

@gilescolborne

This online bank is
‘Delighting’ their
customers by
asking them to
share restaurant
recommendations
with each other.

@gilescolborne

This went round
our office like
wildfire: if Google
Chrome thinks a
security certificate
is dodgy then it
displays a skull
and crossbones
instead of a
padlock.

For experts,
delight is about
novel approaches,
attention to
detail, associating
yourself with
delightful others,
humor.

@gilescolborne

What strikes me,
though, is that these
examples are
interesting, but
they’re not
delightful.
One guy in our office
showed the skull and
crossbones thing to
his wife. Her
response was ‘so
what?’.
@gilescolborne

52
WEEKS
of UX By the way, this is
an excellent blog.

“ It’s hard to prove the ROI on some small moment
of delight in a design that requires a little extra
time and attention (although I do believe that you
will see a negative ROI when it doesn’t happen).
Even the best designers get
rather Evasive when they’re
”
asked to justify this stuff.

i want stronger examples that
are less subjective. And i want
to be sure i can deliver ROI.
@gilescolborne

When did
a product or
So i started
service collecting stories
(about 30 of them)
delight
from people about
You? experiences that
they’d found
delightful. What
they told me was
completely
different to the
experts’ view.
@gilescolborne

My hairdresser
told me about the
time he’d booked a
flight on easyjet.
As he pressed ‘buy’,
the website had
hung and he’d
ended up with two
tickets instead of
one.

@gilescolborne
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/irishﬂyguy/2425063737/

He was furious. He
rang easyjet ready
for a fight. Before
he’d finished
explaining, The lady
said ‘no problem -
one of those
tickets cost more
than the other. i’ll
refund the more
expensive one.’

@gilescolborne

He said ‘my jaw
dropped. i told her:
that’s the best
customer service
i’ve ever had’. He
was delighted.

This story doesn’t
sound at all like
the ‘cute details’
the designers
spoke about.
@gilescolborne

A friend told me
about his o2
broadband. When
his new modem
arrived, he expected
to find a piece of
paper in the box
with inscrutable
technical settings
to enter. instead,
O2 had already set
up the modem. He
just had to plug it
in and it worked.
Delight!

@gilescolborne

There’s always an
Apple story, right?
One person told me
about the first
time they’d dropped
their iPod and the
headphones came
unplugged. The iPod
paused itself so
they didn’t lose
their place in the
podcast. Delight!
@gilescolborne

These stories
follow a common
pattern.

resolved
anxiety delight
effortlessly

@gilescolborne http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/demir/98060727/
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/tylerdurden/529028040/

They’re nothing like
the examples the
resolved experts chose.
anxiety delight
effortlessly when people tell
And
me these stories,
their eyes light up -
they’re enthusiastic. i
see real delight.

Problems, and anxiety
resolved are inevitable.
anxiety delight
effortlessly these stories are
But
about companies that
were ready for the
problems and saved
their customers.

a friend told me
about his first time
using Nike Plus. as his
run ended, there was
a count-down
(anxiety!) and then,
surprise - paula
RadcliffE’s voice on
his ipod
congratulating him.
Nike seem to be
playing with that
moment of anxiety.

@gilescolborne

if you’re creating
experiences, it’s not
always about
eliminating negative
emotions. Sometimes
it’s about using them.

enhanced ending
delight
anxiety surprisingly


This is interesting if
you’re delivering a
leisure experience like
Nike Plus - but i’m
not advocating that
an online bank plays
with people in this
way!

enhanced ending
delight
anxiety surprisingly


Anxiety can be
remembered, rather
than present.
Another friend (hi,
Doug!) told me about
this. it’s for feeding
your toddler when
you’re away from
home. Put the messy
food in the bulb at
the end, squeeze a bit
onto the spoon and
pop it in the baby’s
mouth.
A clever, easier
solution.

@gilescolborne

remembered resolved
delight
anxiety cleverly

@gilescolborne http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/8748128@N02/4459960663/
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/biblicone/3645323788/

Another class of
story sees users
delighted because
they’re getting a
better outcome than
the herd.
For instance, a
traveller had her
flight cancelled.
instead of taking the
long route home
offered to her, she
flew to another
airport and used her
rail pass from there,
getting home well
ahead of the other
unlucky passengers.

@gilescolborne

in this class of story,
it’s
the users’ choices that
cause
delight. But there’s a ha
lo
effect for the company
involved. They may not
be
aware of it, though!

choices mean
anxiety superior result delight
to your peers

@gilescolborne
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/happykatie/2459583180/

Stories about ‘extras’
are interesting.
One person told me
about a time when he
tried to buy beer and
a pie in the pub. He
didn’t have enough
money so he just got
a beer!.
A few minutes later
the barman brought
him a pie. ‘Someone
left without picking
up their order - and i
remembered you
wanted one,’ he said.

@gilescolborne

Several people told me similar
stories about ‘extras’. The
extras were always relevant,
and delivered with a personal
touch.

problem relevant extras delight

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregpc/2719468143/

@gilescolborne http://www.flickr.com/photos/8748128@N02/4459960663/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biblicone/3645323788/

All but one of the
stories i gathered
followed the basic
‘problem, resolution,
delight’ pattern.

Why are they so
different from
Experts’ consensus
on delight?

in ‘emotional design’,
donald norman gives
a simple framework
that’s helpful here.

@gilescolborne

You can think of the
brain as three
‘layers’. The visceral
brain of sensations
and reflexes. The
behavioral brain of
doing things and
feeling emotions. and
the reflective brain
of higher thought.

@gilescolborne

Designs please us on
each of these levels.

reﬂective An oxo potato peeler
is pleasing because it
feels nice in the hand.
A Jaguar’s seat
adjuster is pleasing
behavioral because it’s laid out
like a seat - so you
feel in control. and a
‘binary’ wrist watch
is pleasing (my
visceral programer friends
tell me) because it
has a witty approach
to numbers.

@gilescolborne

reﬂective

behavioral

visceral

@gilescolborne

The Experts were
sharing examples of
delight that work on
the reflective level.
reﬂective aficionados liked the
examples, but other
people didn’t always
get them.

behavioral other People share
examples that work
on the behavioral
level. These stories
are about problems
visceral solved. They have
VALUE. if people start
talking about your
company or product
that’s worth
something!
@gilescolborne

not important

“ It’s hard to prove the ROI on some small moment
of delight in a design that requires a little extra
time and attention (although I do believe that you
will see a negative ROI when it doesn’t happen).
”
This type of
delight has real
value that’s easily
proven.

@gilescolborne

Discussion forums
and online ratings
systems like DooYoo
or Trip advisor are an
easy place to find
out if you’re
delivering this kind of
delight.

@gilescolborne

I would recommend (9-10): 63% -

I would not recommend (0-6): 18%

Net promoter score: 45%
many companies use net
promoter score to measure
whether they’re getting word of
mouth recommendations from
delighted customers.
@gilescolborne

anxiety seems
to be a useful
indicator of
potential for
delight.

resolved
effortlessly
anxiety surprisingly delight
cleverly
superior
i wonder Whether people always need to experience
anxiety before they can experience delight, or whether
the heightened emotions in these stories led people
to remember them more vividly. Either way, what
matters to service designers is that these stories are
remembered and shared.
@gilescolborne

beauty and sensation do matter
- i buy lots of things because
they’re beautiful or they feel
good. But they don’t get talked
about in the same way. This kind
of delight is harder to sell
(except to aficionados - who’ll
pay generously for it).
Behavioral delight sells itself
through word of mouth.
@gilescolborne

when my company
redesigns a product,
we begin by looking
for those moments
of anxiety (the red
triangles on this
chart). They’re
opportunities to
change the user
experience and
delight customers.

@gilescolborne

One last point. Yahoo’s
mantra of ‘wow, delight,
love’ reminds us that
delight fades over time. you
need to keep upping your
game.

wow delight love like

@gilescolborne

Designing for delight

• Look for points of anxiety - experienced or remembered
• If appropriate (e.g. games), enhance that feeling
• Pick one to ﬁx now
• Fix it completely
• If possible, ﬁnd solutions that are
effortless, personal, clever, superior
• Measure ROI through word of mouth:
net promoter score, online chatter, surveys
• Remember that delight fades away - don’t get cocky!

@gilescolborne

Follow those
simple steps
and i guarantee,
you’ll keep your
users delighted.

@gilescolborne

giles.colborne@cxpartners.co.uk

@gilescolborne

follow cxpartners on Slideshare.net
@gilescolborne

Designing for delight (Giles Colborne)

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