Sustainable Customer Experience Design Co-creating Experiences in Events, Tourism and Hospitality

Introduction

The rise of the experience economy

21st century experiences and consumers

The wider challenge of sustainable development

Exploring the future of customer experiences

An overview of the remainder of this book

References

Part 1. Designing, Staging and Managing Experiences

1.The Concept of Experiences

Introduction

Experiences

A peak experience or memorable encounter

An extended experience or extraordinary experience

A transformative experience or flow

The Experience Economy

Existing theories, methods and tools

Experience Episodes

Customer journeys and touch points

Dramatic structure

Satisfiers, dissatisfiers and exciters

Layers in experiences

Expectations, perception and performance: same coin, different sides?

Balancing both sides of the coin

The resulting organisational/professional challenge

Online experience design playground

References

2. Understanding your End Users

Introduction

Why do we want experiences?

Happiness

Values

How do we perceive experiences?

Schemata and learning

Memory

Methods, tools and techniques to put the puzzle together

Personality

The economic (ir)rationale of why end users buy/engage in experiences

Motivation: gains and pains

Motivation, opportunity and capacity

High-involvement and low-involvement decisions

Stereotypes, archetypes and personas

Online experience design playground

References

3. Understanding the Design Process

Introduction

What is design?

Science and/or art?

Design theories, approaches and methods

The design process

Seven generic stages

Different processes for different problems; same logic

Design methods, tools and techniques

Step 1: Clarifying objectives

Step 2: Establishing functions

Step 3: Setting requirements

Step 4: Determining characteristics

Step 5: Generating alternatives

Step 6: Evaluating alternatives

Step 7: Improving details

Online experience design playground

References

Suggested further reading

4. Designing Experiences

Introduction

Step 1: setting objectives

Dining in the dark – the objectives

Step 2: establishing functions

Dining in the dark – the functions and the dramatic structure

Step 3: setting requirements

Dining in the dark – the requirements

Step 4: determining characteristics

Dining in the dark – the key characteristics

Step 5: generating alternatives

Dining in the dark – getting to design alternatives

Step 6: evaluating alternatives

Dining in the dark – decision time

Step 7: improving details

Dining in the dark – “eye” for detail

Designing more complex experiences

Objectives

Functions

Requirements

Characteristics

Alternatives

Final choice and details

Online experience design playground

References

5. Staging and Managing Experiences

Introduction

Process quality

Experience blueprinting

Scripts, Standard Operating Procedures and Flow charts

Interaction quality

Job design

Selection and recruitment

Teamwork

Leadership

Physical environment quality

Physical design

Ambient conditions

Social factors

Outcome quality

Social factors

Waiting times

Tangibles

A broader perspective and a warning

Laws, regulations, norms and certifications

Management contracts, Service Level Agreements and PDCA cycles

A warning!

Summary

Online experience design playground

References

Part 2. Sustainable Development and the Role of Businesses and Professionals 

6. Sustainable Development and Blurring Boundaries

Introduction

The concept of sustainable development

Sustainability and unsustainability

Sustainable development

Sustainability and Events, Tourism and Hospitality

Contribution to unsustainability

Contribution to sustainable development

Sustainability, experiences and fluidity

Experiences as replacement for tangible products

Blurring boundaries

Summary

Online experience design playground

References

7. Sustainable Organisation Models and Principles 

Introduction

Our socio-economic system

The transformation of our societies

The resulting set of values and worldviews

The resulting social dilemma

Sustainable development and the business world

The responsibility of businesses

The business world’s contribution so far

Sustainable business models

Reference points for sustainable businesses

Ethical leadership, distribution of control, and powers of persuasion

Naïve, native and narrative intelligence

Online experience design playground

References

Part 3. Co-creating Sustainable Experiences  

8. Sustainability and Experiences: A Match Made in Heaven? 

Introduction

Sustainable experiences: from the basics to going all out

Level 1: addressing your environmental impact

Level 2: also address your social (and economic?) impact

Level 3: creating economic value through creating societal value

Level 4: kicking our current socio-economic system in the …

Attract, lure, entice, convince and/or seduce end users

Accounting for the gap, different types of goals and the relevance of context

Unleash the beast within?

Sustainability and experiences: like two peas in a pod

Online experience design playground

References

9. Designing Sustainable Experiences and Organisations

Introduction

Ambition level 1

Tangible and intangible components

From products to services to experiences

Involve others in your design process and join theirs

Ambition level 2

The social component

From reducing your negative impact to having a positive one

Looking beyond the borders of your organisation

Ambition level 3

Experiences as a means to create societal value

Getting your end users on board

Ambition level 4

Our hotel is your hotel

Our personas are your personas, our functions are your functions

From Business model canvas to Experience Purpose Canvas

Online experience design playground

References

10. …Or Rather, the Epilogue

Introduction

Your journey

Biography

Bert Smit is Extraordinary Professor Van Gogh Homeland at Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands and Senior Consultant at Ginder.

Frans Melissen is Transversal Professor of Sustainability Transitions at Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.

Celiane Camargo-Borges is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands and a member of the Sustainability Transitions research group.

Lauren Verheijen is an Educational Advisor and Researcher at Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.