Designing for delight

'We've got to surprise and delight our customers' is one of those mantras that I've kept hearing over the years. I've always wondered how a company could do that.

It's got nothing to do with selling glamorous products. I know plenty of people who are delighted by their insurance company, and plenty of others who are disappointed with the company that sold them a fancy holiday.

So I did some research of my own - looking for best practices by talking to experts and customers alike. What I found was rather shocking. Experts and customers completely disagree about what makes for 'delight'.

You can find out why (and get some rules on how to delight your customers) in this short presentation which I gave at the Usability Professionals' Association conference in May.