3FebInspired user experience through a visit to an Apple store

I recently accompanied someone to an Apple store to look at laptops and I was pleasantly surprised by the entire user experience. Initially I was expecting the typical high pressure, “gimme your money” experience like you get at some of the big box and “discount” stores, but that wasn’t the case. Immediately upon walking into the store it was clear that everything had been very carefully thought out and that customers would be well taken care of.

Aside from its clean cut appearance, the first thing you’ll notice in the store is that there are lots of fully functional demo computers for you to try and enough sales people to assist everyone (though they are not pushy at all). Devices are laid out on tables, almost like little work centers where you can visualize what it might be like sitting around a table with your colleagues or co-workers on your Macs, while at the same time providing you with lots of personal space.

The best aspect though, is that they have you taken care of during the entire decision making process and despite their product’s absurd price tags, they ensure that you leave feeling good about your purchase. One aspect I particularly liked was the in-store setup. As soon as you decide to purchase, the product is brought directly to you in the store and the sales person will show you how to use it and even help you do some basic setup. And for $100, you can get a migration service in which you can visit the store as many times as you like during the subscription period and they will personally assist you with all of your questions, software migrations and issues. More importantly, they’ve made the migration to their product very easy.

Service wise, they aim to have a 24 hour turn around time for those, as the sales clerk said, “can’t live without their computer”. Contrast that to your local discount store which usually has at least a week’s worth of backlog.

All of this reminded me of the good old days back in the 80’s when there was a family owned computer store on every street corner. In those days, computer stores understood that good customer experience began before the product was purchased and continued for the lifetime of the product and beyond.

So when thinking about your customers, try to think about the user experience you want to impart on them as a holistic process. Try to think about what you can do for them, before, during and after the sale. Oh and when you have a chance, make a visit to an Apple store and be inspired!