Wow Experiences: Surpassing customer expectations
Today I want to invite you to remember a moment when you received a product or service and were pleasantly surprised because you got more than you expected. Maybe you received more value for the same price, maybe it was delivered faster than promised, maybe you got an unexpected gift with your purchase, or maybe you simply experienced extraordinary service. The list of possibilities is long. What matters is what they all have in common: you were pleasantly surprised with an added value that generated a positive emotion of delight. Being able to offer your customers that kind of experience is vital for your business success, and that’s what we’re focusing on today: the experiences known as Wow Experiences, those that allow you to exceed customer expectations.
“Exceed your customers’ expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more”
Going back to the memory I asked you to recall at the beginning — think of that experience and try to remember the emotional content in detail.
How did you feel?
What particular aspect of that experience makes it memorable to you?
If I were having this conversation with you right now, I believe your answer would probably include words like: you felt good, valued, happy, pleasantly surprised, amazed. And we could keep listing positive emotions involving two key elements:
Delight
Surprise
Wow Experiences
That positive experience I invited you to recall is what we call a Wow Experience. These are experiences that allow you to exceed and surpass customer expectations.
Wow Experiences go beyond the specific product or service itself; they build and strengthen the emotional connection between consumers and brands.
I find this concept fascinating because it’s one of those cases where it’s very easy to understand what we mean. The expression “wow” is universally used to express astonishment or wonder. It’s such a common expression that we even have emojis for it: 😮 😲 🤩. It’s not hard to imagine what we’re talking about here.
When researching for this article, I tried to find the origin of the “Wow Experience” concept. Honestly, I couldn’t find who first used it in marketing or how it became popular. If you have that information, I’d love for you to share it with me and with other readers in the comments.
What I did find, however, was a lot of consistent information about what Wow Experiences are — and I believe it’s a very intuitive concept. We all know when something makes us say “Wow” as soon as we see or experience it.
Building Emotional Connection
When we want to generate Wow Experiences for our customers, the main objective is to impact them through pleasurable and memorable emotions.
The goal of Wow Experiences is to exceed customer expectations. In today’s competitive environment, it’s not enough to just meet the basic need your product or service fulfills.
Don’t get me wrong — of course, it’s essential to satisfy the basic need. If not, you’re automatically out of the customer’s options. A purchase experience can’t be “Wow” if it doesn’t meet the primary need. However, while it’s indispensable to satisfy the need, this alone is not enough to generate returning customers, brand involvement, loyalty, and advocacy.
Today, we need to go further. Not only satisfying the customer’s need but doing it in a way that creates the need to return. We want loyalty, repeat purchases, and promoters of our brand.
A Loyalty Tool
When we create an emotional bond with the customer that goes beyond the satisfaction of needs, we’re building loyalty. A customer who will remember us fondly. Consequently, a customer who will return to us when they need our products or services again, and who will recommend us to friends and acquaintances.
What makes up a Wow Experience?
To build a Wow Experience, we need to cover three areas:
Meeting the need that brought the customer to us.
Added value, beyond the product or service itself, to generate positive emotions.
Astonishment and surprise, to create memorable experiences.
When we meet the customer’s need and add an element of surprise, we create differentiators that set us apart from the competition.
When we meet the customer’s need and add value that generates positive emotions, we create memorable experiences that customers will remember.
When we combine surprise and positive emotions, we create meaningful experiences that foster emotional bonds with our brand.
The Value of Information
Of course, in order to provide experiences that meet these three elements, we need to know our customers and our competition in depth.
Only if we know our customers can we give them what they want or need without even asking.
When we understand not only their behaviors and preferences regarding our product or service, but also know them as people — what excites them, what they like, what captures their attention — we can appeal to their emotions and create a unique bond beyond the experience of simply using our product or service.
If we know the competition, we can find ways to differentiate ourselves by offering added value that no one else provides.
Once again, thorough and adequate information is what allows us to build a competitive advantage.
What can create Wow Experiences?
It’s not about expensive or grand gestures. Sometimes the difference between a “normal” experience and a “Wow” one lies in small details that make all the difference.
You must focus on your customer, put yourself in their shoes, and look at your products and processes from their perspective. Once there, ask yourself:
What can I improve?
What can I change?
How can I not only satisfy the customer’s need but surpass it?
Here are a few examples of actions that can potentially become Wow Experiences when done right:
Personalization
Whenever you personalize your services, you make the customer feel unique and special. Any information that helps you see them as an individual — not just another line in a database — is an opportunity to personalize your service, product, and customer interactions.Personalized relationships are a powerful way to generate Wow Experiences because they build strong emotional connections.
Support and timely information
It’s important for your customer to feel that you’re there for them not only at the time of purchase, but before and after, ready to provide the information and support they need to make the right decision and solve any problem that may arise.Problem and error resolution
Mistakes — as unpleasant as they may be — offer great opportunities to create Wow Experiences. If handled properly, a mistake can turn into a loyalty-building moment instead of losing a customer.Surprises, gifts, bonuses
Sometimes a surprise discount or a small gift, no matter how small, generates great joy. Feeling that you “won” something or were “recognized” helps turn a regular purchase into a Wow Experience.
Of course, this is just an example list and not an exhaustive one. In fact, I’d love to have your feedback. Share in the comments other things you’ve done as an entrepreneur, or experienced as a customer, that qualify as “Wow Experiences.”
As a final note, remember that for your customers to see you as a brand that generates Wow Experiences, isolated efforts are not enough. No matter how pleasant the experience, if it isn’t followed consistently with the same level of service, the positive effect can fade quickly.
Consistency and constancy are essential in building a brand.
