More Than Making Memories: Taking customer experiences from satisfactory to exceptional

Executive Research Summary Series

MORE THAN MAKING

MEMORIES:

TAKING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES FROM SATISFACTORY TO EXCEPTIONAL Collier, Joel E. & Pelletier, Mark J. (2018). Experiential Purchase Quality: Exploring the Dimensions and Outcomes of Highly Memorable Experiential Purchases. Journal of Service Research, Volume 21, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670518770042

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The Growth of EXPERIENTIAL PURCHASES

Even before the pandemic, the idea of buying experiences rather than products had become popular with everyone from researchers to minimalist bloggers. The post-pandemic travel boom magnified the public’s interest in experiences.

According to MasterCard’s Travel Industry Trends 2023 report, spending on experiences increased 65% from March 2019 to March 2023. By comparison, during the same period, spending on products increased 12%. With the importance of return visitors and consumer recommendations, businesses must compete not only for customers’ dollars but also their hearts.

But unlike the latest gadget, the success of an experiential purchase is difficult to quantify. The success of an experience is largely in the recollection of participants. How can a museum, a movie theater, or a sports arena ensure a positive outcome for all participants? That question becomes all the more difficult for experiential purchases like sports or gambling where a winning outcome isn’t guaranteed.

Joel Collier, the Tommy and Terri Nusz Professor of Marketing at Mississippi State University, studies customer delight, an emotional reaction to situations in which performance exceeds customer expectations. In a series of articles co-authored by Collier, who holds a doctorate in marketing as well as an MBA, he explores the dimensions of memorable experiential purchases – the experiences that make consumers want to come back and also recommend them to friends.

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“With the profitability of experiential purchases on the rise, and the profits available to firms providing quality experiential purchases more evident, the question of what makes one purchased experience better than another takes on greater importance.”

– Joel Collier et al.

Article: Experiential Purchase Quality: Exploring the Dimensions and Outcomes of Highly Memorable Experiential Purchases.

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The Enduring Quality of an EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE On May 25, 1977, an experiential purchase of galactic proportions was unleashed. This is the day that “Star Wars” (now also known as “Episode IV: A New Hope”) came out in theaters. It has now spawned 10 other motion pictures, several television series and specials, and a dedicated section of a Disney theme park, among other experiences, not to mention books, action figures, toys, and the like.

“It is as important to note as it is fascinating that all the revenue generated by the “Star Wars” franchise stems from an extremely positive reaction to a high-quality experiential purchase made by moviegoers [more than]

While the “Star Wars” franchise might be an outlier in terms of its longevity and lasting cultural significance, businesses of all types and sizes can learn to leverage the components that make up an outstanding experience.

40 years ago.”

– Joel Collier et al.

Article: Experiential Purchase Quality: Exploring the Dimensions and Outcomes of Highly Memorable Experiential Purchases.

The idea of experiential purchases has been around for decades, but it still can be difficult to measure the quality of such purchases, particularly compared with more traditional purchases. First, to define experiential purchases, a 2003 article by social psychologists Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich called them “those made with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience: an event or series of events that one lives through.” On the other hand, material purchases are “those made with the primary intention of acquiring a material good: a tangible object that is kept in one’s possession.”

While experiential purchases are often tied with products, such as souvenirs, the purchase alone lives on only in the memories of participants. As illustrated with the “Star Wars” franchise, the underlying experience can give rise to a host of tangible purchases, as well as return experiences.

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Dimensions of a QUALITY EXPERIENCE Why was “Star Wars” so popular that it spawned an entertainment juggernaut? Developed by Collier and his co-researchers, the concept of Experiential Purchase Quality (EPQ) can help explain. EPQ is a customer’s overall evaluation and judgment on the excellence of a lived-through experience based on the following dimensions:

FUN: Perhaps the most self-explanatory aspect of a positive experiential purchase, this is defined

as the “level of perceived hedonic enjoyment.” Fun is often tied with other dimensions that make up a positive experience.

ESCAPISM: In other words, the ability of purchasers to remove themselves from everyday stresses.

SOCIAL CONGRUENCE: When participants share similar views about the outcome of the

purchase, they demonstrate social congruence. For example, a football fan might have a better time at a game with other fans of the same team than with people who don’t understand the game.

SERVICESCAPE QUALITY: This is the physical environment of the experience, which might

include everything from noise to cleanliness. In the “Star Wars” example, this might include the temperature of the theatre, loudspeaker volume, carity of the film, and even being around moviegoers in costume.

UNIQUENESS: Novelty or distinctiveness of the experience. As one research participant noted,

an experience “must be different than what you would expect. It can’t be something routine.... It can’t be something that happens all the time.”

Collier’s research team asked consumers surveyed through Amazon’s crowdsourced MTurk marketplace about what made their own past experiences memorable. The largest EPQ category they mentioned was servicescape (34%). They also mentioned instances in which they had their first exposure to the experience (29%), fun (18%), uniqueness or novelty (17%), social congruency (15%), and escapism (14%).

(Note: because the participants could reference more than one factor, the response percentages to not add up to 100%.)

What is Experiential Purchase Quality?

Experiential purchase quality is a customer’s overall evaluation and judgement on the excellence of a lived-through experience using the dimensions of fun, escapism, social congruence, servicescape quality, and uniqueness.

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Encouraging Repeat CUSTOMERS & WORD-OF-MOUTH When customers have exceptional experiences incorporating the elements of fun, escapism, social congruence, servicescape quality, and uniqueness, they react in certain ways, including:

NOSTALGIA: Positively-charged memories of an event, often exaggerating the happiness associated with the experience. For example, one participant noted, “The memories that we shared on that trip were just priceless.”

SELF-CONNECTION: This is the consumer’s cognitive and emotional bond with the experience. One person interviewed for Collier’s research noted, “[I]f you are a Disney person, you love Disney World and you want to go back. You can really only explain it to people that like Disney World. Others just don’t care, and they look at you like you are nuts because they don’t understand.” This individual identifying themselves as a “Disney person” is an example of self-connection.

BRAGGING: If you’ve ever been on vacation with a tween taking a selfie for social media and remarking that her friends will be “so jealous,” you’ve witnessed a phenomenon called braggart behavior or boastful word-of-mouth. Unlike other types of word-of-mouth communications that focus mainly on the experience itself, bragging specifically aim’s to enhance one’s self.

All of these outcomes of an exceptional experience can lead not only to repeat customers, but also to willingness to be less conscious of the price of an experience.

“Every time we go back, I would probably pay double and still be happy.”

– Survey Respondent

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“I instantly went on Facebook and bragged to all my friends.”

– Survey Respondent

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All Experiences ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL For companies that provide experiences, then, it would stand to reason that maximizing each of the EPQ factors would lead to the best possible experience and, importantly, return customers and word-ofmouth advertising.

But Collier’s research indicates that some EPQ components are more effective in certain types of experience. For example, escapism was more important for shorter experiences, like concerts, than longer experiences, like a weekend getaway. On the other hand, servicescape quality played a greater role in the perceived quality of a longer experience. Companies should be mindful of the types of experiences they provide, and how certain elements could be emphasized.

Collier’s research provides one such type of experience with unique challenges. In his most recent research on the subject, Collier and his co-researchers explored so-called “sticky” experiences, or experiences like spectator sports and casino gambling in which organizers can’t control the outcome. In contrast to “smooth” experiences that are expected to proceed smoothly to an expected outcome, sticky experiences may end in the proverbial home team losing.

Sticky experiences like live sporting events and casino gambling are big business. Customers leaving delighted and telling their friends is important, no matter who wins. But only a few teams in a given year have a real shot at a championship. Many others are mired in a dreaded “rebuilding year.” How do teams give their fans an exceptional spectator experience, no matter what the win-loss columns look like?

What Does It Mean?

Sticky Experiences: experiences with unpredictable endings

Smooth Experiences: experiences that follow a fairly predictable path and involve clear expectations for a smooth journey

STICKY EXPERIENCES

SMOOTH EXPERIENCES

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It’s Not Whether YOU WIN OR LOSE...

As the story goes, when lyricist Jack Norworth wrote the words to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the early 1900s, he had never actually seen a baseball game. Now ubiquitous, the song Norworth wrote provides a certain perspective on consumer satisfaction in a so-called sticky experience: Root, root, root for the home team, If they don’t win, it’s a shame.

‘Cause it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out, At the old ballgame.

But Collier’s research suggests that alternate lyrics may be in order, something to the effect of: Root, root, root for the home team, If they don’t win, it’s okay because we still had a good time.

‘Cause it’s one kiss-cam, two t-shirt cannons, three raffle drawings, At the old ballgame.

Collier, along with scholars from The University of Alabama and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, worked with trained interviewers to survey fans of a National Hockey League franchise that had experienced a sustained losing record. The goal of the research was to explore the factors that went into a positive customer experience, even if the team lost. While winning constituted 15% of the overall factors in a positive customer experience, several other factors were similarly or even more important, such as:

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GAME ACTION/PLAYER EXPERTISE (18%): This refers to player skill, how players and coaches performed, and the like;

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SERVICESCAPE (16%): For a sporting event, that may be concessions, parking, seats, and similar;

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SOCIAL CONGRUENCE (14%): Interactions with other fans, such as family, friends, and co-workers;

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IN-SERVICE ENTERTAINMENT (13%): This includes fan interactions on the video screen, giveaways, and more;

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ATMOSPHERE/CROWD (12%): Whether fans feel engaged and energetic;

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MEMORIES OF PREVIOUS PLAYOFF VICTORIES (8%): This can be thought of as a subset of nostalgia; and

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FIRST-TIME-EXPERIENCE (5%) Although winning is not guaranteed, a company offering sticky experiences can encourage a variety of other positive factors, from clean restrooms and good concession services to positive interactions among fans. Even teams with losing records can use tools like nostalgia to remind fans of prior winning ways to encourage them to enjoy the present experience.

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Making CUSTOMERS INTO FANS By considering the Experiential Purchase Quality factors discussed previously, as well as factors tailored to a specific type of event, companies can create experiential purchases to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Some expamples of enhancing experiences through variables discussed in this paper include:

1) Creating an entertaining atmosphere with interactive add-ons like live music;

2) Training employees to gain expertise;

3) Using marketing to enhance the social aspect of the experience, like highlighting the geographic identity in a team’s fanbase; and

4) Promoting bragging behavior by encouraging patrons to use specific social media hashtags when posting photos and videos of certain places and events.

Whether customers are in a galaxy far, far away or at the concert venue downtown, companies should think carefully and creatively about the experiences they want to cultivate.

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