EXPERIENCE
Deep listening drives innovation. It is one
“Listen now. When people talk, listen
But what about the customers’ needs,
of the most important skills any Strategist
completely.
spoken
and Experience Designer can possess in
you’re going to say. Most people never
unspoken? How do we inspire the customer?
the design thinking process. To create a
listen. Nor do they observe.” – Ernest
What do we learn when we observe
design solution, you must listen, observe,
Hemingway
customer behavior? And how can we use
and process a large volume of data points in a short period of time to have enough foundational knowledge to ideate upon. This sounds basic and straightforward, but I am referring to those golden comments that come either from the client, or even more likely from the end user, that unlock some key understanding and/or insight in every project.
Don’t
be
thinking
what
Bottle Rocket is working to transform customer experience in industries spanning healthcare, grocery/retail, and QSR, just to name a few. We are constantly listening to find the key moments of interaction, transition, and reward that we can improve and ideally transform. Quickly learning a new client’s business, addressing their objectives, and creating the MVP within a project team are all mission critical.
and,
equally
as
important,
that to make something that matters?
Who knew, listening was such hard work? Hearing what isn’t said can be used to create what is affectionately called “surprise and delight.” During any project, we will identify the customer touch points, journeys, and required transactions. Oftentimes, the key is identifying the micro-moments between interactions, finding the “one thing” than can elevate an experience from good to great, from expected to memorable, from generic to ownable for a brand. “The
most
important
thing
in
communication is hearing what isn’t said.” – Peter Drucker How well can we create a meaningful set of personas? How far can we “rewind” the
I’M ALL EARS
THE IMPORTANCE OF DEEP LISTENING IN THE DESIGN PROCESS
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customer journey with ethnographic and field research? How many “right” questions can we ask (in our limited timeframe) to get the answers that unlock some key friction points or that provide a eureka moment (which, by the way, is very hard to do).
