Using Emotional Experience Design to Engage Customers

By Marisa Peacock


Ron Rogowski and his team of researchers at Forrester Research, look at what they call emotional experience design and how it affects the way it can create online experiences that “deeply engage customers” in a new report called Emotional Experience Design,

In the book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, author Donald A. Norman, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group writes, “Scientists now understand how important emotion is to everyday life, how valuable. Sure, utility and usability are important, but without fun and pleasure, joy and excitement, and yes, anxiety and anger, fear and rage, our lives would be incomplete.”

While Norman examined the emotional design of everyday things, Forrester has begun to examine emotional design in the way companies create and manage websites. The results, while not surprising for any web designer, usability tester or marketing specialist, show the way the web is continually evolving. From Web 2.0 to 3.0, the web has the power to engage and connect users. However, as the report reminds us, it’s not always employed in a helpful and user-friendly way.

THREE PRINCIPLES FOR EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Forrester defines emotional experience design as: "creating interactions that engage users by catering to their emotional needs." The researchers outline three definitive principles for how company websites can interact with customers:

1. Address customers’ real goals: To make meaningful connections with customers, firms must uncover what customers really need and help them accomplish higher-level goals, which often span time and channels.
2. Develop a coherent personality: Firms must let down their defenses and create a human-like personality that customers can depend on.
3. Engage a mix of senses: Firms that want to keep users interested need to enrich the sensory experience.

These principles, while seemingly straightforward, can be achieved in a variety of ways. Of course, each principle includes layers that explain how to extend value beyond the basics.

Associated Link: More: Using Emotional Experience Design to Engage Customers on Your Website

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