Closure Experiences. Why a simple goodbye could help climate change.

Closure
Experiences
Joe Macleod. @mrmacleod @ClosureExp 
www.closureexperiences.com
IXDA Helsinki. March 2016

What
What a Closure Experience is
Why the customer life cycle is biased
What created this situation
How it has impacted us
Good and bad Closure Experiences
Techniques and models

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

1. 2. 3.
Any consumer experience can
be broken down into 3 stages
On-Boarding Off-BoardingUsage
The stable, committed
relationship between the user
and the service they use, or
the product they own.
It is the effort it takes to get the
customer to commit to the
product or service relationship.
The start of the relationship.
It is the effort it takes to neutralise the
effects of the engagement. To
complete the agreed engagement. It is
the conclusion of the relationship.

engagement
time
Starting
Experiences
Closure
Experiences
Fuelled by commerce Fuelled by society
Language of self actualisation Language of safety and security
Joe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Packaging
Advertising
Marketing
engagement
time
Examples include…
T&Cs
Inactivity / dormancy
Break the contract
Examples include…
Recycle
Starting
Experiences
Closure
Experiences

engagement
time
The
interest
gap
Packaging
Advertising
MarketingExamples include…
T&Cs
Inactivity / dormancy
Break the contract
Examples include…
Recycle
Starting
Experiences
Closure
Experiences

The customer life cycle
is biased
There is a gap of interest
Consumers and industry in
codependent denial

services
products
digital
…the consequences
we see in

Life was hard,
El Ángelus. Jean-François Millet. CCJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

death was familiar,
Ars Moriendi. Meister E.S.Joe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

heaven was an
attractive reward,
Belshazzar’s Feast. John MartinJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

religion owned
the rule book to
get in.
A Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet. CCJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Comfort came with
industrialisation,
Eisenwalzwerk. Adolph MenzelJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

and Heaven emerged
on earth for many.
Luncheon of the Boating Party. Pierre-Auguste RenoirJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Medicine learnt to
control death,
Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross.Thomas EakinsJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

and hid it away.
Gross Clinic on display at the Army Post HospitalJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Freeing us to indulge
Heaven on earth
without end.
Chanel Shopping CentreJoe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Heaven was after life
Death was controlled
and managed by
religion
Death was an expected
part of life
Heaven is life
Medicine now
controls death
Death is hidden
from life
So…

Closure was
respected, familiar
and expected.
Closure is
distant, alien and
avoided
…and consumer
experiences have
mimicked this.

The Consumer Lifecycle.
A short history of unbalancing

Waste and
Closure
Waste and closure were
actionable and attached
to consumption.
15th century
A simple world view.
Consumer
experiences

15th century
life death
rebirth
use

Industrial Revolution. 1760
Eisenwalzwerk. Adolph Menzel
Lose control of work waste
Consumption becomes easier Waste becomes less actionable.
Closure becomes more diﬀicult.
Products produced at scale

Department Stores. 1796
I can buy all my things in one place

Dr John Snow. Cholera. 1854
I can buy all my things in one place I can spread invisible germs

Modern Advertising and Marketing. 1850
I can live my dreams through products

Progressive Obsolescence. 1929
I can throw things away

Bank of America launch BankAmericard. 1958
Rolando Pujol
I don’t need money, just credit

Silent Spring. 1962
Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Archives
We can impact the food chain

Apollo 8. Earthrise. 1968
NASA
We can impact whole Earth

Public Internet services. 1980
www.thinglink.com
A new inﬁnite landscape to create in

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 1988
British Library
We are heating the Earth

Amazon.com introduce “1-Click" 1999
1 click shopping

Global Financial Crisis. 2007-10
Occupy Wall Street
Too big to failA new inﬁnite landscape to create in
1 click shopping

1.8 billion photos each day in 2014
Too big to failA new inﬁnite landscape to create in
Ease of sharing
1 click shopping

Right to be forgotten. 2014
Too big to fail
I cant undo sharing
Ease of sharing
1 click shopping

Consumer experiences are ﬂuid
Waste and closure are distant and less actionable
21st century
Waste and
Closure
Consumer
experiences

This imbalance in the customer lifecycle has developed a
psychosis that is represented in all of us by 2 selfs.
Waste and
Closure
Consumer
experiences
Consumer
Self Civil Self

Actionable
waste
Consumer
experiences
Consumer
Self
Civil Self

The Psychological
Impact of Closure

Ernest Becker
Denial of Death
Terror
Management
Theory
“most human action is taken to ignore
or avoid the inevitability of death”

Terror
Management
Theory
We are all in denial
that things end.

Terror Management Theory
Kasser and Sheldon
2000
Researchers attempted to
connect consumption to
Liberation. M.C. Escher 1955Joe Macleod. Closure Experiences.

Kasser and Sheldon
2000
“suggested that concerns
about mortality, although sub-
conscious, strongly influence
our behaviour and aspirations
about material goods and
economic status”

Kasser and Sheldon
2000
“suggested that concerns
about mortality, although sub-
conscious, strongly influence
our behaviour and aspirations
about material goods and
economic status”
this impacts our relationship
with consumption

Peak End Rule
“people judge experiences based on
their Peak (an intense moment of the
experience) and at their End”
Daniel Kaheman
1990

time
feeling
in-different
agony
joy
+peak
end
-peak
Peak End Rule
Daniel Kaheman. 1990

Peak End Rule

Closure is a powerful
memory moment
Peak End Rule

A good
Closure Experience
will be…

Visibly Connected to the rest of
the experience through
Emotional Triggers that are
Actionable by the user in a
Timely manner.
A good Closure Experience will be…

Visibly Connected
Closure is Visibly Connected to the rest of the experience
through Emotional Triggers that are Actionable by the
user in a Timely manner.

Canon fail to link the
starting experience, and
the closure experience -
despite having all the bits.
Nearly 500ml of
redundant space in
Canon packaging.
A printer pioneer, having
operated a cartridge
recycling program since
1990.
Users don’t understand
what ‘benzisothiazol’
means and therefore can’t
action anything about it.
On-Boarding Oﬀ-Boarding
Fill in form, sign
T&Cs - 2300
words.
Usage
Canon Ink Cartridge

Zombie Apps
Zombie App is an app that
doesn’t appear in the top
three hundred of any of
Apple’s twenty three diﬀerent
genres lists.
Adjust
Last year zombie apps
doubled from 657,778 to
1,136,5021. Out of 1.4 million
on the app store.
If you don't see it on the
App Store, it isn't there.
Over 80 percent of Apps on
App Store are Zombies

Pensions
Pensions need to connect
a Starting experience and
a Closure experience over
decades.
1 in 4 of these pension
pots goes missing through
lack of contact.
Age Concern
Average of 11 employers in
our lifetime.
Department for Work and
Pensions UK
20s 65s40 years of v i s i b i l i t y
lifespan

CCO by Ryan Stone
Epson’s PaperLab
Keeps closure
visible to the user.
Makes them
responsible for it.
Recycle paper on site.
Put old printed documents
in one end - new paper
comes out the other end.

Emotional Triggers

Starting Experience
= 98% Closure Experience
= 2%
Starting Experience
= 90%
Closure Experience
= 10%
Starting Experience
= 40%
Closure Experience
= 60%
Starting Experience
= 0%
Closure Experience
= 100%
Starts to have
emotional meaning
1972
1995
2006
2012
30% on front,
90% on back
All brand elements
removed - colour,
typography, logo.
Positive emotional
message gone
Emotions can be
triggered to
recognise closure
Plain Cigarette
Packs
Research shown plain packaging makes
the packets less appealing and helps
reinforce health messages. BBC
Darker colours - olive green is proposed
- are favoured ahead of white, as they
are perceived to signify more harm.”

Marie Kondo Tidying Technique
New York Times
Questioning: does a product
‘bring you joy?’ helps the owner
understand the meaning if
ownership and responsibility.
Encourages
emotional endings
with the clutter in
your home
‘Goodbye, and thank you for
teaching me what doesn’t suit
me’

Actionable

Starting Experience
= 100%
Sharing and
Right to be Forgotten?
Article 17. European Union
Right to be forgotten and to
erasure
1. The data subject shall have the
right to obtain from the
controller the erasure of
personal data relating to them
BUT…
“This IP License ends when
you delete your IP content or
your account unless your
content has been shared
with others, and they have
not deleted it.”
Facebook Terms and Conditions.
Share…
Share…
Share…
Closure Experience
= 0%

HTC One Mini Packaging
Some packaging
mis-places closure
Starting experiences wrapped
up as long term responsibility
Closure experience overlooked
as important or actionable

Reference the
product’s life in
its form.
Collapsable water bottle
The end of the product’s life is
inherent in its form. It shows
potential. Encourages the user
to consider and engage in the
closure experience.

Terms & Conditions
T&Cs that only
allow the user
to fail cannot
end amicably
20,000 words 
12 mentions of “Termination” 
6 mentions of “Until” 
2 mentions of “Opt out”
All reference Apple as decision maker in any
situation. User has no apparent power
Closure should be a… fair, just conclusion
without negative consequence.

An antisocial
photo-sharing
app
Anonymity
makes closure
simple, secure
and automatic
Rando—an app where
serendipity rules the day
and users send and receive
random photos to and
from random people all
over the world.
Closure Experiences. 8.1.2016
Rando

Timely

Carbon off-setting
on flights. As part
of the customer
lifecycle worked.
Carbon off-setting for flights was part
of the customer purchase lifecycle.
Sadly it has moved into the
background, and airlines do it as part
of their Social Responsibility.
Carbon off-setting
for your flight
A perfect moment to ask
about a Closure Experience

Snapchat
A video
capturing app
that has timed
access
Timed closure
helps people
feel in control.
Enjoy fast and fun
mobile conversation!
Snap a photo or a video,
add a caption, and send
it to a friend. They’ll view
it, laugh, and then the
Snap disappears from
the screen – unless they
take a screenshot!

A commitment
to the perceived
lifetime of the
product
CCO by Ryan Stone
Traditional approaches
of warranty aim to
reassure against failures
in the product. KIA aims
to deliver assurance to
the lifetime of the
product.
Kia
KIA 7 year
warranty
disrupted the
market when it
ﬁrst launched.

Sony’s robot dog, Aibo
Sony no longer
repairs broken
Aibo dogs.
Owners have a
strong bond
with the robot.
75
Make robots
last as long
as real pets.
Owners are now looking
at the death of a beloved
household robot pet.
Similar emotions to real
pet death are being
experienced.

Mortgages
Jameslwoodward
There should be a period of
reﬂection and celebration.30 years of
payback shouldn't
end in a moment
Sadly debt is only celebrated, when more
debt is added.
Paying oﬀ debt is not celebrated,
avoiding a Closure experience for the user.

DNR. Do Not Resuscitate
Jameslwoodward
Occasionally resuscitation takes place
despite the existence of a DNR. Prompting
many elderly people to get their ﬁrst tattoo.
DNR is over
burdened as an
interface.
A DNR document is a humble A4 piece of
paper that informs medical staﬀ about the
life and death intentions of the user.

life
death
rebirth
Usage
customer life cycle
system life cycle
reclaiming resources
dis-assembly
neutralise
distribution of resources
assembly,
position,
develop
design
Closure
Experiences
Starting
Experiences

customer life cycle
life death
Packaging
Important points in the
customer life cycle
First time use
Transaction point
SERVICES
PRODUCTS
DIGITAL
Time out
Credit out
Task /Event completion
Withdrawal
Lingering
Broken
Paused
Forgotten
Undead
Giving
Stolen
Fear
Bullied
Context change
Exit
Forgotten
Closure
Experiences

Obsolescence is to
industry endings.
Closure is to
user endings.
They both bring the end, but from
diﬀerent points of view.

Closure Experienced by the User Obsolescence created by industry
Broken Paused Forgotten Undead Giving Stolen Exhausted
(functional)
Outdated
(technical)
Contractual
(service)
Uncool
(stylistic)
Snapped heel
on a shoe,
engine blown
on a car.
Product not in
use but can be
used. Books on
bookcase.
Suitcase stored
in loft.
Christmas
decorations.
Item at the
back of the
cupboard.
Miscellaneous
bits and bobs
in a drawer.
Not used, not
remembered.
E-Waste.
Complex to
dispose of. Has
some perceived
value. Parts
under
monopoly from
manufacture.
Am intending
to give this
item away at
some point.
Bike left at train
station is not
there any more.
Batteries dead,
toilet roll used
up. Jumper has
holes in it. Fruit is
now rotten. Diary
from previous
year.
Betamax tapes.
SLR cameras.
Polaroid
cameras. Yellow
Pages
Phonebook
Mobile out of
contract. Car
lease up.
Wide leg trousers
when straight leg
ones are in.
Has close links to
Branding
82
Closure model: Products
There are 6 main types of closure experiences the user has with products.
And a further 4 of Obsolescence driven by industry.

Time out /
limited duration
Credit out Task/Event
completion
Withdrawal Lingering Exhausted
(functional)
Outdated (technical) Uncool (stylistic)
2 week holiday, 3
year degree, 1 year
software
subscription,
Pay As You Go,
Points on your
driving license
Parcel delivered,
boiler fixed, car
serviced, concert
watched, operation
successful, money
transferred
Break the contract,
leave the film early,
end the relationship,
A pension that you
no longer pay into.
An unused gym
membership
a number of visits to
the osteopath granted
by your doctor. 3 year
degree has come to
an end, Coffee loyalty
card used up.
PPI, Hovercraft,
Blockbusters, Film
processing, Travel
agents
Myspace,
Has close links to
Branding
83
Closure model: Services
There are 5 main types of closure experiences the user has with products.

Fear Bullied Context
Change
Exit Forgotten Exhausted
(functional)
Outdated
(technical)
Contractual
(service)
Uncool (stylistic)
Paranoid that the
digital service
provider knows
too much about
you, that too
much personal
information has
been disclosed to
them.
Trolled off,
individuals in the
community have
attacked the user.
User’s context
has changed,
which has an
impact on what
digital services
they use. Having
kids, moving
home, changing
jobs.
Provider has shut
down, sold out,
gone bust. A
more successful
product has
superseded it.
App deleted off
phone but
account still
active, unused
email accounts
that you have
forgotten about.
Gems in Clash of
Clans, PAYG credits.
Game completed.
Bit Rot’ - out dated
computer
applications and
their offspring files.
‘Vint Cerf, the Vice
President at
Google’
Flash, Silverlight.
T&Cs. Ending the
provision of a
service at the
completion or
termination of a
contract.
Skeuomorphic GUI
interface versus
flat.
Has close links to
Branding
84
Closure model: Digital
There are 5 main types of closure experiences the user has with digital.

Balancethe l i f e c y c l e

value life, in death.

for every start,

design an end

every emotional

deserves
a

grateful

Goodbye
Joe Macleod. @ClosureExp @mrmacleod www.closureexperiences.com

Closure Experiences. Why a simple goodbye could help climate change.

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