Joe Macleod and Judith Buhmann held a workshop about closure experiences. They discussed how digital services and products leave behind an invisible landscape of old services that are not properly closed out. The workshop activities focused on creating personas of customers leaving services, scenarios of good and bad endings to services, and fictional services to demonstrate different transaction models and their emotional impacts. The goal was to help designers better understand customers' relationships with services over their entire lifecycles including satisfactory conclusions.

1. Session
A7
Joe
Macleod
and
Judith
Buhmann
Closure
Experience
workshop
Email
joe@ustwo.co.uk
@mrmacleod
# @judithbuhmann
@mrmacleod
yourhashtag
@ucduk
#ucd2013
www.closureexperiences.com
www.ustwo.co.uk

2. CLOSURE
EXPERIENCE
WORKSHOP
Joe Macleod & Judith Buhmann

3. We have been dealing
with the fall out of the
littered physical
landscape for decades

4. An invisible landscape
littered with old services
and digital products

5. The underlying issue is the same.
Our changing relationship with closure.

6. CLOSURE
The satisfactory conclusion to a product or service
relationship. Each party feeling satisfied with the
completed transaction, it being a fair, just conclusion
without consequence.

7. OLD
DEATH

8. NEW
DEATH

9. PRODUCTS

10. LOTS OF
PRODUCTS

11. SERVICES

13. DESIGN
Creation as a conclusion.

14. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP LIFE CYCLE
awareness
knowledge
consideration
selection
satisfaction
advocacy
loyalty
?

15. THE
CLOSURE
EXPERIENCE
WORKSHOP

16. THE WORKSHOP
transaction
awareness
knowledge
consideration
selection
ending
satisfaction
advocacy
loyalty
persona

17. ACTIVITY 1
Post Service Persona
Create a persona that has all the emotional baggage of
someone who has just left a service.
transaction
awareness
knowledge
consideration
selection
ending
satisfaction
advocacy
loyalty
persona

19. ACTIVITY 2
Endings
Create 2 scenarios, one about a good ending to a service
and one about a bad ending. Who / what / why did it
happen? Have fun with it.
transaction
awareness
knowledge
consideration
selection
ending
satisfaction
advocacy
loyalty
persona

20. time-out
credit-out
event/task completion
withdrawal
inactivity/dormancy
When a customer uses a
service that is based on
specific time allocation,
such as a gym
membership or a package
holiday, they are
expecting access to that
service for a specified
amount of time. Actual
usage of this service may
fluctuate throughout the
agreed upon time period.
When purchasing credits
for use with a service
provider, the customer
still retains some aspect of
protection over those
credits, the same as they
would if it were still cash.
They are aware of the
value of the purchases
they make within the
service.
The most successful
delivery of a Task/Event
Completion type service
involves the service
provider managing the
expectations of the
customer. If the customer
has a drippy tap, the
plumber needs to inform
the customer exactly what
the problem is, how long it
will take to fix and the
approximate cost.
The Withdrawal end-type
represents the
counterpoint to a desired,
comfortable and planned
service ending. It is always
unexpected and often
leaves at least one party
in the relationship
unhappy.
More digital services are
being based on content
created and shared by
users. These services are
greatly reliant on active
users, so when people
stop posting that picture,
checking in, linking in, or
other verbs we have
created in the last few
years, the service starts to
die.

21. ACTIVITY 3
Transaction Models
Create a fictional service that will reference the
emotional triggers created through your chosen
transaction model. Be inspired by the variety of feelings
you have identified for your persona.
transaction
awareness
knowledge
consideration
selection
ending
satisfaction
advocacy
loyalty
persona

22. payment after delivery
payment before delivery
scheduled payment
synchronous
payment
payment
payment
payment
payment
payment
payment
This holds the possibility of
empowering the customer,
as potentially they can
negotiate the price on the
quality of the service
delivered.
payment
payment
Limits the ability of the
customer to negotiate if a
service has been poor and
therefore leaves little
opportunity for the service
provider to get feedback and
improve.
The customer considers the
service a basic / hygiene
level need and wants to give
minimum attention to the
transaction.
Digitising services has
increased the use of
synchronous transaction.
For example,
‘pay-as-you-go’ services are
digitised and use of them
are increasing in many
sectors.

23. THANKS
Joe
Macleod
and
Judith
Buhmann
Closure
Experience
workshop
joe@ustwo.co.uk
@mrmacleod
@judithbuhmann
www.closureexperiences.com
www.ustwo.co.uk