Insider: Experience Innovation – The Next Generation
By Rob Rush, CEO, LRA Worldwide
Mr. Rob Rush
By the time you actually read this, the conversation I had this afternoon will be a few months old, but it couldn’t have been timelier in its relation to this topic – the future of customer experience and innovation. The conversation was between me, LRA’s Senior Vice President of Research, Rob Kaplan-Sherman, a magazine editor and Jeneanne Rae, the President of Peer Insight, who is cited frequently in my article in the Hotel Business Review - “Experience Innovation – The Next Generation.”
The topic – no surprise – was service innovation, customer experience and how initiatives around the two can be linked to positive financial outcomes. The conversation meandered – no surprise – to a lively discussion on the future of “customer experience” and “innovation.” What was the next big thing on the horizon to move customers? Was it an emotional alignment with a company? A Value-based alignment? As you can imagine, the conversation took some twists and turns, and probably led me to conclude that my current Hotel Business Review article is less about “the next generation” of innovation... and more about “the next generation” of driving and implementing innovation responsibly and effectively.
It bubbles up time and again in my article, but innovation for innovation’s sake doesn’t do anyone any good. As innovate around you guest experience or service, ask these questions again and again, each step of the way. Does the change help us fulfill our mission and vision more effectively? Is there real value to the guest or customer? And are we in any way compromising what our guest/customers are seeking when they avail themselves of our services? Obviously, if the answer is “Yes” to the first two questions and “No” to the third, you might have something on your hands. Any other combination and you might be innovating just so you can tell your boss that you did... or win a role in the next IBM television commercial.
Another filter that came up in the conversation that I don’t address in the article is that of complexity. Are you reducing the complexity in your guest or customer’s life or increasing it. If the answer is the latter, you can guess where that specific innovation falls on the priority list – all of our research shows that the valuable customer experiences are those that decrease the complexity of an increasingly complex existence. So if you’re cooking up something that even the early-adopter crowd looks at cross-eyed…best get back to the lab!
As always, give the article a read and forward me your feedback. Feel free to reach out with questions or for discussion – my e-mail box is always open!
Cheers,
Rob Rush
CEO
LRA Worldwide, Inc.
215-449-0301
rob.rush@lraworldwide.com
www.lraworldwide.com
