Russell Davies has a great post about designing the "pre-experience". Mashing up Peterme's thinking at dconstruct with Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational, he reflects on how expectation shapes our perception of experiences:
This is not new news. This is just how the brain works. Our feelings, our 'experience of experiences' is shaped by our expectations and it would sensible, if we're trying to create great experiences, that we align the expectations to help the case we want to make.
Genuine marketers have been carrying the "pre" torch for a long time. The difference is, Russell does a good job at underscoring the scope of the experience. It begins the second someone learns about the thing -- using a Mac, going to Vegas, shopping at Whole Foods -- and continues all the way through the doing of it (and then going forward).
Piers Fawkes goes on to highlight the need for product teams and marketing teams to coordinate. Amen. But don't stop there. Build a whole team around all the primary touch points, including especially anybody customer-facing, like sales reps and customer service. The customer experience team should have the purview (and rewards + accountability) from expectation through delivery.
