What is a Product Experience?

Last week I began shopping for a sippy cup for my infant son. I had been given a very specific list of criteria by my wife. The sippy cup needed to be BPA free for health reasons, it needed to NOT have a spout (to encourage my son to develop his fine motor skills), it needed to be easy to clean and dishwasher safe, and it needed to be small enough to fit my son’s small hands. In the end I settled on a Munchkin 360 cup that I found in an instagram post, corroborated with two separate bloggers’ best of lists, researched the Munchkin brand’s own website and Amazon, and ultimately bought from Target (due to price and free shipping). This 45 minute odyssey not only opened my eyes to the subtle nuances of children’s drinking implements, it also served as a perfect example of a Product experience (PX).

What is a Product Experience (PX)? 

A product experience consists of every interaction an individual has with your product information throughout the entire customer journey. PX is a critical investment area alongside customer (CX) and employee experience (EX) to engage stakeholders. PX is focused on the relationship a customer has with a company’s products and the company itself. 

From how products or sets of products are represented in an ad space, displayed in marketing channels, turned into compelling product and brand stories in owned or third-party sales destinations, or even in customer service interactions, every touchpoint between a customer and product provides an opportunity to strengthen or damage this relationship. Product experience is the overall customer perception of these product interactions.

Customer experience is a well understood priority for every brand selling in today’s market. But what’s not often talked about is just how difficult it is to manage the customer experience across every customer touchpoint. Brands today must provide a consistent and quality experience that conveys their values and meets customer expectations across the buying journey, from discovery to purchase and even service and support. 

Trying to control the quality of every interaction is not easy, especially with the proliferation of online marketplaces where control of the customer experience is almost entirely ceded to a 3rd party. But one thing that brands always have control over is their product experience, and PX is a huge component of any good customer experience.

Investing in PX allows a brand to secure the key ingredient to great customer experiences. It also enables a more agnostic approach to engaging with customers in support of an omnichannel strategy. 

My multichannel quest for a sippy cup is replicated millions of times a day across the world. Consumers are rarely going to one place to buy your products. They’re bouncing between search engines and social media, doing research and price comparison on marketplaces and eCommerce stores, and even going into physical stores to touch and feel your products before purchasing. This buying process is even finding its way into the B2B space where younger generations are expecting the same smooth purchasing experience they enjoy in their personal life.

So, as you’re thinking about your own brand and the experience you’re offering to your customers, consider these two questions:

Are you providing compelling product experiences across all of your customer touchpoints? 

and

What is your strategy for managing these product experiences?

If you’re interested in seeing how far along your organization is in developing your PX Strategy, you can take our self-assessment here, or you can reach out to a product experience expert today.