Product Behavior

A few years ago, my company considered working with a manufacturer of kitchen gadgets on revamping their line. As part of our discussions about the project, some of us went out into the world to ask people about the stuff in their kitchens. Among other things, I interviewed my wife - I asked her to walk through the kitchen with me, and to tell me what the things we own mean to her. At one point, sorting through a drawer of silverware, she came out with two soup spoons, with blue-and-yellow-polka-dotted handles. “I love these spoons. I got them in France and I love them.” Then she moved on to something else.

When we buy something, what are we buying? Are we having an experience? Acquiring someone else’s experience? I see several options for a product’s experience story:

• Creation Experience: The thing had an interesting genesis: maybe made by an artisan alone in her garage, or designed for a specific antique purpose. When I own the item, I think about (and can tell others about) this history.
• 3rd Party Experience: The person selling it has an interesting story about discovering it. Antiques are like this, I think - maybe it’s a mass-produced medicine bottle, but it was found in someone’s attic and still has the original label. Again, when I own the item, I can think about where it has been, even if its origins aren’t that interesting.
• First Person Experience: You found it in an interesting way. It’s a regular soup spoon, but you found it on vacation in France. Whenever you think of the item, it reminds you of the vacation.
• Aspirational Experience: If you buy this stove-top espresso maker, you will make great espresso. Most consumer products are sold this way (with the exception of “retro”-styled products that act like products with creation stories).
• No Experience: Of course, we buy some products with neither history, experience, nor aspiration. Paper towels, for example - unless you’re specifically buying “green” paper towels, which could be first-person or aspirational. I don’t expect a roll of paper towels to mean anything, I just need it to function well.

When I work with a client to refine their brand message, this question - what kind of experience am I getting when I own the product? - is helpful to shape the rest of the elements. Packaging, messaging, form, and features should all reflect and reinforce the experience story. Like the product’s archetype, the experience story is another link in the consumer-product relationship.

Question for you: What is your product’s experience story?

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