8/8/2019 Towards a Framework of Interaction and Experience as It
Relates to Product Design
7/8
Rhea: Focusing on Customer Experience
In this article, Rhea argues that the real opportunities for
design come fromassessing all the ways in which products and
services might influence and benefitcustomers -- physically,
emotionally, intellectually, and culturally. But takingadvantage of
these opportunities demands a shift in focus from
productsthemselves to customer experience.
Cheskin research has developed a model to conceptualize how a
customer'severyday experience with products moves through a cycle.
The cycle is comprisedof four stages: Life Context, Engagement,
Experience, and Resolution. Rheas statesthat while the emphasis on
any given stage may be different for different products,customers
do move linearly through the stages, progressing as long as
theirproduct experience remains satisfactory (thus, if they do not
become engaged, theywill not buy and therefore not move to the
Experience stage).
The article describes each stage in detail, and mentions tools
to measure "thequality of customer experiences" for each stage.
Briefly, Life Context refers to thebackground of consumer's lives,
including everything the consumer thinks, feels,and does
(behaviors, needs, attitudes, perceptions, etc.). This context is
mostlyunarticulated, and constantly changing.
Engagement refers to the initial interaction a customer has with
an artifact. Theimportance of this initial involvement is
"profound", and may be influenced by anumber of factors, including
prior experience with the product, advertising, word-of-mouth, the
product's "cognitive presence", attraction, and communication.
Experience refers to the period of ownership and use. During
use, customerscontinually assess the quality of their experiences
with the product. In this stage,the product must be reliable,
creating a pleasing experience that meetsexpectations, addresses
concerns, solves problems, and fits into customers' lives.And,
gives customers something extra.
Resolution refers to both the experience of disposing of the
product and howcustomers resolve (or think about) their overall
experience with the product to forma lasting impression. This
impression then feeds back into Life Context, and forms abasis for
expectations and desires for the next cycle.
