The importance of user experience
Posted July 17, 2008 by Gabriel Hurley
Out of sheer folly (and the necessity of getting a new phone after mine died of old age and natural causes), I braved the hellish lines of the Apple Store last weekend to be one of the million people that now own the new 3G iPhone.
Now, I'll say this: standing in line for more than 4 hours, knowing full well that if I had just waited a few days more I could've completed the entire process in a matter of minutes is not an enjoyable experience. More than that, thanks to the poor design of the Bay Street shopping area where the Apple Store is located, it functions simultaneously to provide full sun and chilling strong winds. By the time I realized just how bad standing in line was going to be, I'd already sunk nearly two hours into my time there, and figured there was little point in leaving.
By the time I got to the front of the line, despite my wearing a wide-brimmed hat, I was sunburned, wind-blown and thoroughly looked bedraggled.
Yet the moment I got to the front of the line suddenly everything changed. And not because I was thrilled to finaly be there, but because Apple had scripted an planned out every moment of my experience from that point forward.
I was ushered in by a sales person who was at least ten times more excited to be selling me this phone than I was to be buying it, and in truth his enthusiasm rubbed off on me. I even asked him if it got old doing that all day, and he gave me an honest reply of "no, being able to give you people who've been out there for hours what you want is awesome!" The process of actually buying the phone, porting the number, and signing AT&T's contract was completely painless.
In fact, almost too painless. Between the fact that the entire transaction took place standing in the middle of the room, the fact that all I did was hand him a credit card which he ran through a device he held in his hand, tapped okay, signed my name on an electronic screen and was emailed an invoice... I still don't feel like I spent any money or signed up for anything.
It's scary to think how easily Apple was able to make me feel that way. Simply by removing the time-worn conventions of the counter, the register, signing a receipt, being handed a paper invoice... Without all that it hardly seems real.
Then they walk you through a set of ceremonial actions wherein you unbox the phone yourself and then are assisted in tethering it to AT&T's service.
All in all it was a great experience, and it was extremely interesting to watch as I continue to develop my own understanding of marketing, and the power of simple psychological cues like the ones involved in that process. A lot of lessons to walk away with.
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