Can You Overdo Experiences?

You’ve probably heard me say a few times that real engagement relies on more than delivering value. Real engagement can happen when you couple that value with great experiences. Most organizations over-focus on value and under-focus on experiences (this was the topic of last week’s article.) But can you overdo experiences?

Yes! Let me explain with a real story of my own.

Last-last-last weekend (three weekends ago. Why didn’t I type three weekends ago? I don’t know. “Last-last-last” sprang to mind first, which is clearly a mistake because I’ve now spent four sentences explaining myself), I hosted a surprise birthday weekend for my husband. I thought it would be fun for him to have quality time with his three best friends, so I invited them and their wives to a large AirBnB out in the country. We hiked, we played games, and we ate. Oh, did we eat!

Before the trip, I did A LOT of planning. Because the house was so far from civilization, I wanted to bring every little thing we needed. Imagine my delight when I got an email a week before from the host with a link to a video of a tour of their kitchen. The hosts prided themselves on having a better-than-normal stocked kitchen. I watched the video three times, comparing their items to my list. “Fantastic!” I thought and left a few essentials off my list because those items were already there. The experience of having that kitchen tour video was terrific.

Except….

When we arrived, I realized the kitchen no longer had what was displayed in the video. I guess that glasses break, silverware accidentally gets thrown out, and things that aren’t supposed to be washed in the dishwasher get washed in the dishwasher—there’s higher than average attrition in an AirBnB than in most people’s home kitchens. Most guests probably don’t notice, but I was bummed out. Those essentials were at home, sitting on my kitchen counter. I would have packed them had I not seen that video. The hosts provided an extra experience that set my expectations, and then my expectations were not met.

Over-exceeding expectations is engaging; under-delivering on expectations is not. So, what does this have to do with your organization?

Well, I want you to keep focusing on providing positive experiences for the people you want to engage, and as you are trying new things and making changes, consider these questions so you don’t accidentally over-promise or over-commit:

• Are we eliminating a critical experience that people have come to expect?

• Are we offering an experience that we won’t be able to replicate in the future?