25 Lenses for Customer Experience - Peopledesign

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CX Systems
25 Lenses for
Experience Design
Designing for experience is different
from designing objects.
Any product or artifact has an implied
experience, but experiences themselves
have different dynamics. We don’t
actually design a person’s experience –
we create opportunities to affect an
experience. If we think proactively and
strategically about a user or customer
experience, we can increase the odds
of improving it.
Here are several 25 lenses offer ways to
view CX as a system.
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25 Lenses for Experience Design
1. Time
A key aspect in designing for experience is that it’s fundamentally about time. Any
user or customer has an experience over some duration. It can be an instant or
years, but the medium of experience is time. Along the way, we can create objects
and situations that can impact a person’s experience. Building a system to shape
an experience starts with considering interactions over time.
What is the duration of the experience?
Is it a year, a day, or just a few seconds?
How do our users or customers think
about their time?
How long does seem to last, or do we
want it to last?

2. Linear progression
We experience time as a linear progression. This may be obvious, but a timeline is
a helpful place to start framing the work in the context of another person’s expe-
rience. The classic idea of walking in your customer’s shoes is useful because it
takes you out of your head to think about someone else’s journey, interacting with
your product or brand along the way.
Draw a timeline for your the experience.
Where does it begin? Where does
it end?
What do your users or customers
expect on their journey?
What does it feel like to walk this line?

3. Sequence of interactions
Think about the experience timeline as a sequence of interactions. It’s a step-by-
step progression: What happens first, second, third? How does one step relate to
the next one? How much time should pass between each interaction, and how do
they connect? A series of dots from left to the right can represent this sequence.
What happens first, second, third?
What steps happen now?
What do you want to add or change?

4. Interactions are opportunities
Think of each dot on the timeline as an interaction with a user or customer. In-
teractions are exchanges – a call to action and action taken. Each exchange can
be positive or negative, so each interaction is an opportunity, moving customers
forward or backward on their journey. The macro goal is forward movement. Clari-
fying the goal of each touchpoint brings greater focus to the entire journey.
What is exchanged in each interaction?
Does one step lead to the next?
How does each step collectively move a
user or customer forward?

5. Micro/Macro
Consider the scale of experience. Any individual interaction consists of another
series of interactions, and any set of interactions add up to a larger picture.
At the highest level, a customer experience may move from awareness to cus-
tomer retention. Was the customer experience a good one? You can also focus
on a product or service offering, a specific engagement, or zoom down to a single
button on an app. What happens when I click? Like a camera focal length, dial into
the appropriate scale of a CX problem.
For some practitioners, a sliding scale of experience blurs the line between
CX and UX. At Peopledesign, we believe there should be a smooth transition from
macro to micro experiences. Aligning the biggest things with the smallest makes
for a more coherent organization internally and a better experience externally.
Simon Sinek advocates this kind of alignment by starting with “why.” Purpose-
driven organizations start with why defining the macro picture. But how does it
align with what happens on the ground? How does each micro experience build
toward our purpose?
Zoom in to one touchpoint or
interaction. How can it be broken into
sub-steps to create another timeline?
Back away from your timeline. How is this
whole experience part of another?
How do your micro experiences
support your macro goal?
How does your macro goal drive
micro experiences?

6. Customer cycles
It’s easier to map a linear timeline from left to right, but it’s essential to keep in mind
that many of these processes are (or should be) cyclical. For example, a customer
experience may move from building awareness through convincing, selling, and
after-sales support. In the best case, customers will buy again. Decreasing the
friction can increase the rate of the flywheel.
When does your experience repeat?
How does it change the second
time around?
How does the experience cycle
improve with each iteration?

7. Product cycles
Cycles also occur at a smaller scale like product use or customer engagement.
For a product or service experience, we might consider a first impression, setup,
and initial use. Then the journey may move to primary use and secondary use, and
so on. It can be handy to think about the cycle as points on a clock face (12, 3, 6,
9), but other models for mapping experience such as the “Five E’s” (Entice, Enter,
Engage, Exit, Extend) are helpful. Define phases for your specific audience and
recognize the end is often the next beginning.
How does your product or service
experience begin and end?
What is the best way to define phases
of your experience cycle?
How do your ending interactions lead
to the next cycle?

8. Performance
Viewing an experience as a series of interactions can help evaluate performance.
Each interaction can be a net positive or negative. It’s complicated enough, but
even more so since behavioral science tells us people are many times more likely
to remember negative experiences than positive ones. Positives and negatives
are not equal.
How do you view performance overall?
What can be measured?
How do you define success?

9. Research
The quest to better understand your performance will lead to research. It’s
essential to move beyond personal bias and institutional momentum to determine
what’s really going on. Conduct qualitative research, quantitative research,
some combination of the two. Quantifying and visualizing your insights on the
CX timeline is a way to understand and communicate your findings.
How will you measure performance?
What and how will you measure?
How will you filter for bias
and precedent?

10. Improvement
.
What areas need the most attention?
How will you address not only negative
interactions but the systems that
created them?
Which high-performing areas should be
duplicated elsewhere?

11. Key interactions
Some interactions are more important than others, so not all touchpoints are
equal. Business drivers and research may shape your understanding of their rela-
tive significance, and it’s good to have a feeling for the critical breakpoints. Know-
ing which interactions matter most should affect where you focus your energy and
resources.
Tide laundry detergent serves as a good example. P&G product managers
knew that people generally could not tell if their clothes get cleaner from simple
washing. Through research, they learned there were two most significant touch-
points they could address. The first is the box design, which is why we see such
bright colors and superlative claims. The second is the way the detergent smells,
especially when you first open the box. So while P&G wants you to believe their
soap makes your clothes cleaner, you believe it because of the way it smells. They
arguably over-engineer the box to be like a billboard, and the smell says: “clean.”
Surely they want Tide to clean as effectively as possible, but they understood the
key interactions, which were not immediately apparent.
How will you determine which
touchpoints are most important?
How will you prioritize your work based
on these insights?
How are the most important
interactions a reflection of your brand?

12. Medium
It’s easy to recognize that experiences have different parts. Some interactions
are web-based. Others involve a physical location or product. Some of them might
incorporate a salesperson or other human. As a starting place, we think about
three categories: physical, digital, and personal, which we might visualize as differ-
ent objects along our timeline.
Digital, personal and physical are broad groupings. Still, it’s a helpful way to move
the conversation away from departments or teams (like sales or customer service)
with more focus on what’s happening with the customer.
Each medium has different requirements for resources, skill sets, assets, and
training. We might think about skills like software and UX when we consider digital
experiences. Products and physical environments require skills in materials, pro-
totyping, engineering, and space planning. Finally, personal interactions require
people skills such as empathy, presence, and effective communication.
How are your customer touchpoints
executed today?
What is your inventory of physical,
digital, and personal interactions?
How might this lens allow internal groups
to collaborate?

13. Digital opportunities
Emerging technology is creeping into all aspects of our lives. Profound changes
to how we shop, entertain ourselves, learn, and heal are possible because of tech-
nical interventions. Moreover, new technology creates opportunities for new kinds
of interactions previously unavailable.
Digital transformation is happening in nearly every industry. Organizations have
had a tremendous opportunity to rethink their customer timelines – even before
COVID forced them to do so. There are opportunities to lower costs, increase
speed through automation, and provide a higher level of service. Just think how
we’ve come to expect automated notifications, scheduling, and confirmations.
When considering how digital approaches can enhance interactions, look beyond
your industry — benchmark both technology innovation and CX leaders to broad-
en your view.
Which touchpoints are best suited for
digital transformation?
Where can you reduce costs?
Where can you leapfrog competitors?
What would Amazon do?

14. Blended experiences
Many interactions overlap the physical, digital, and personal. There is often a
person working with a digital app to provide services or a physical environment in
which this occurs. Chat interfaces are digital interactions, but there is a real person
on the other side unless it’s a bot. The role of technology in built environments is
being rethought with and without another human.
Blending types of experiences into our timeline creates a complicated diagram,
almost like a musical staff. I rather like this because of how business guru Peter
Drucker projected the nature of knowledge organization 30 years ago. Drucker
believed that next-generation companies would begin to see themselves less like
a command-and-control army and more like an orchestra with a conductor and
individual specialists contributing in harmony.
Blended experiences will become more the norm as technology finds its way into
interactions. Consider what physical, digital, and personal experiences exist today
and what could exist tomorrow.
How will we create coherent
blended experiences?
How might medium lead to different
kinds of internal teams?
How might experience and medium
allow specialists to thrive?

15. Internal departments
Many organizations envision the customer journey starting with marketing efforts
that hopefully lead to sales through customer service and support. A conventional
internal view of customer interactions allows for handoffs between these depart-
ments. Each has a separate team, budget, agenda, best practices, and metrics.
Even when people value CX, it can be hard to break from departmental silos.
Customers don’t know or care who sponsored a touchpoint. Instead, they ex-
perience the timeline as a sequence of interactions that build on one another.
CX professionals advocate for continuity and aim to cut through departmental
differences.
Are our historical departmental labels
appropriate today?
How might we break down internal
silos for better hand-offs?
How might we use a customer timeline
to better orient teams?

16. Backstage collaboration
As with blended media, the reality of departmental collaboration can get com-
plicated. We know this is all under the hood and that CX depends on all pistons
firing – or at least the right ones at the right times. CX needs an engine, but what
customers experience is more akin to the theater. Customers see what’s on stage
and anticipate your next act. The show will go on when everything is coordinated
backstage.
Many customer interactions rely on interdepartmental coordination. For example,
mapping backstage collaboration on a timeline can also resemble a musical staff.
Cross-functional teams are not new, but developing a roadmap for how these
functions affect CX can lead to better results.
How can you use a customer timeline to
work more collaboratively?
How might we define more customer-
focused work streams?
How might we refine an accountabilty
chart?

17. Audience segments
Many organizations appeal to a wide variety of audiences. They may have multiple
customer types, segments, vertical markets, not to mention partners or influenc-
ers within their market. Some audience segments may require additional touch-
points, while others may skip whole parts of the process based on who they are.
At Peopledesign, we advocate looking at the broad CX timeline, then defining
variations. You can develop completely different maps for each type of customer.
However, everybody Googles everything, so nearly everyone may eventually visit
your public website. Mapping touchpoints can simplify complex interactions. Keep
in mind that one touchpoint can serve multiple audiences. Getting clarity here
helps develop a cohesive system – no single interaction has to stand alone.
How many audiences do you serve?
How is each audience experience the
same or different?
Which touchpoints are leveraged for
all audiences?
Which audiences require unique
interactions?

18. Reframing teams
A brand is a perception based on a series of experiences. Creating a system of
interactions can affect the perception you’re trying to develop in the mind of your
user or customer, so all these interactions on a CX timeline are part of your brand.
Technology enables nearly everything that we are doing today. From websites
to apps or media in a physical environment, digital interactions are becoming
ubiquitous. Technology comes in all forms and provides opportunities to enable
interactions.
At Peopledesign, we believe brands are no longer the exclusive domain of
marketing, and technology is no longer the exclusive domain of IT. Each has an
important role to play all along the customer journey. If we view customer interac-
tions as ingredients with brand and technology as two pieces of bread, a way to
reframe teams emerges – the “CX Sandwich.”
How is your brand reflected through all
customer interactions?
How is technology supporting all
customer interactions?
How are you rethinking your internal
structure to reflect today’s customer ex-
pectations?

19. Cumulative effect
To consider the cumulative effect of a CX system, think of a bathtub. Water comes
in; water goes out. The progression of customer interactions, frontstage or back-
stage, medium, scale, etc., all add up. Being mindful of your overall goal – a hot
bath – will lead you to add water here, drain water there, and make adjustments
until it’s just right. A bathtub is a good metaphor for a system of inputs and outputs.
What is the net effect of your customer
experience?
What do you want users or customers to
think, feel, or do?
What impression do you want to make?

20. Goals
Your CX system should have a goal. Each small increment is a piece of the puzzle,
but step back and think about the bigger picture. Keep an eye on your larger aim.
It might be an audience segment, a product experience, or an overall customer
journey, but a system has inputs and outputs. Each interaction along the timeline
contributes to an overall picture with an overall effect. Knowing your macro goal
can help guide micro decisions.
Here is where our bathtub metaphor comes into play. In Thinking in Systems,
Donella Meadows breaks down system design in this way: Water flows in and
flows out of the bath. There is a faucet on one side, a drain on the other, and a tub
of water in the middle. The bathtub model offers a way to measure and control a
system.
What is your customer’s goal?
What is your goal?
How will your system be designed to
have the right effect?

21. Systems thinking
According to Meadows, systems have three essential parts: Inputs, outputs,
and the current state. I’ve simplified Meadows’ language here, but she makes a
compelling case for this to be an effective model for systems in nature, computers,
or even groups of people. For your CX system, what is the current state? What
are your inputs? What are the desired outputs? Then consider the flows between
these states. Like the faucet and drain, you can control inflows and outflows.
Changing the speed of flow affects the quantity in each component.
What is the current state?
What are your inputs and outputs?
How are you managing the flow
between states?

22. System metrics
Every executive wants metrics. The bathtub metaphor allows us to measure parts
of the system. If we identify the three states (inputs, outputs, and current) as vol-
umes V1, V2, and V3, we can also specify the flows (in and out) as F1 and F2. These
codes start looking like the game of Scrabble, but it’s a helpful way to isolate indi-
vidual pieces. Consider how you can adjust your levers and inspire action. If you’re
not getting the results you are seeking, adjust flows and volumes.
Taming complexity is a vital part of managing a customer experience. The bathtub
model is abstract, but thinking about the components and levers of your system
enables you to create a dashboard.
How are you isolating specific pieces of
your CX system?
What can be measured, and how are you
measuring it?
What are the components of your
CX dashboard?

23. Liminal thinking
Consider how someone perceives the series of interactions on your timeline.
They’re not thinking about systems of inputs and outputs; they’re mostly thinking
in a liminal way. The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word for threshold, like
a door into a house or building. Think of the word “preliminary” – something that
comes before. Liminality has to do with a transition: Before, During, After. Nearly
every experience, from a macro customer journey to clicking a button, has these
three states. You could think about it as a checkout process or product use.
Liminality is about how we perceive time. What is your audience thinking?
What’s happening now?
What happened before?
What will come after?

24. Perception
Customers aren’t thinking before, during, and after. To an individual, it’s about
what just happened, what’s happening now, and what will happen next. There
is a lot of interesting literature about memory perception. In his book, Stumbling
on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert describes how we’re not great
at remembering the past or anticipating the future. We’re not even very good at
self-assessment – knowing how we feel at any given moment. We’re not as
objective as we like to think.
Consider your CX timeline from a user’s or customer’s perspective. Forget what
happened. What is their remembered past? Forget what you think is happening.
How do they feel right now? Forget what you have planned. What are they antic-
ipating will happen next? Your customer’s perception is likely different from your
internal one. Whether a customer has a good or bad experience can be influ-
enced by their state of mind, what they remember, and their expectations.
We call ourselves Peopledesign as a reminder that people are at the heart of the
brand experience. This affects much of the world around us, what we believe, and
how we make choices.
What is your audience thinking?
What do your users or customers
remember about what came before?
What will people anticipate
will happen next?

25. Story
Most of how we understand the world is through stories. From campfire myths
to blockbuster movies, we think of experiences as lessons, parables, examples.
We’re each the hero of our own story and overlay our personal journey onto any
experience.
Stories, too, are linear progressions, and the classic story arc is another help-
ful lens for a CX timeline. Think about your customer interactions as a narrative.
Where is the rising and falling action? What is the climax and resolution? It’s a bit
like before, during, and after, but in narrative form. Story experts will go deeper into
the Hero’s Journey, adding even more layers of meaning to the art of storytelling.
Remember that any user or customer implicitly asks themselves: Where am I in my
journey? What clues help me stay on track? What will I have achieved?
What story are your customers telling
themselves about their experience?
What story are you telling yourself?
How might the timeline be adapted for
your audience to be the hero?

Timelines and Interactions
You can view CX as a sequence of interactions
mapped on a timeline. Timelines are often cycles,
with each end as the next beginning.
Each experience is an opportunity to move a user
or customer forward. Consider the performance of
each interaction.
Think about scale, from a macro customer experi-
ence or a micro-interaction.
Touchpoints and Variations
Consider the medium of each interaction – physi-
cal, digital, personal, or some combination of these.
Digital interactions are becoming ubiquitous and
changing what is possible.
Consider which interactions are most important.
Consider how you will address multiple audiences.
Which touchpoints are shared or unique?
Consider what is happening backstage with your
internal departments. How will they work together to
create a cohesive whole?
Brand and technology are threads that run through
all interactions. When it comes to your teams, think
about your CX sandwich.
Perceptions and Goals
Consider the inputs, outputs, and overall goals of
your system. Think about what you can measure
and change.
Consider your customer’s perception of what’s
going on: What they remember before, what’s
happening right now, and what happens after.
Consider how your experience fits into your custom-
er’s story.
Summary

25 Lenses for Customer Experience - Peopledesign

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