T-Mobile

Engagement:

This mobile phone store experience case study shows the benefit of managing design in an agile way by including a review early in a refurbishment programme.  We describe our study of customer journeys at 3 flagship stores, to help plan changes to their new stores, which would increase sales, improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience

Store refresh, refurbishment, rebranding and reformatting programmes all amount to the same thing – they are about improving the customer experience. However, in most cases the design work is carried out in offices many miles away with little insight to what customers (and staff) think, feel and do.

Customer experience is all about interactions and perceptions. Customers measure their overall experience in three different ways: ‘Was it useful’ – did they get what they want? ‘Was it usable’ – was it easy to get what they want? ‘Was it enjoyable?’ If these factors are not carefully considered, how can we be sure that changes to a store will achieve its objectives? Aesthetics such as branding, image and corporate identity often take priority and rarely do ‘designers’ return to the ‘scene of their work’ to review its success. ‘Did what looked nice on paper prove to work out in real life?’ Not an unreasonable question, but seldom asked. [Read more…]