Disney MagicBands: This Could be Magical... and Expensive!

Source: Fast Company

Disney has used RFID technology to develop MagicBands - a wristband that serve as a guest's theme park ticket, hotel key, and payment system throughout DisneyWorld.   When I read about this project at Fast Company's website, I thought to myself... "These MagicBands could be REALLY expensive for parents."  It's going to make spending money that much easier.  I speak from firsthand experience.  We just stayed at DisneyWorld's Contemporary Resort a few weeks ago.   The cards you receive upon check-in serve as hotel room keys and park tickets, and they can be used to pay for food and gifts throughout the parks.  I found myself a bit less hesitant about spending money with that card in hand, as opposed to having to pull cash out each time we bought something.  However, as Fast Company writer Mark Wilson points out, these new MagicBands offer more than a way to dig deeper into customer wallets.  Here's an excerpt:

But the cashflow aspect is only one aspect of Disney’s new service. When you begin to consider the potential of wearing a wireless ID around your wrist, all sorts of natural, customized interactions will become possible. Imagine a child meeting Mickey Mouse, and after sharing a warm hug, Mickey actually wishing them a happy birthday by name. There’s a digital handshake going on here, of course, but it’s totally imperceptible. All a child is left wondering is, “How did Mickey know me … and that it was my birthday?!?” Animatronics will see a similar personalization, so the otherwise obtuse talking robots can specifically acknowledge the people standing in front of them.  At the same time, MagicBands enable a deeper level of data collection for Disney. They’ll be able to track someone through the entire park--to see their kingdom as a complex interaction model--finding trends in preferences and habits that can no doubt be monetized. Do people who meet Cinderella buy more princess apparel? Do those who eat the cheese fries for lunch go back to the hotel to take naps?

Talk about Big Data and Personalization all wrapped up into one incredible initiative!   Immediately, one thinks about privacy issues, but Wilson points out that parents will be able to establish some privacy controls on the wristbands.   The bigger issue is how Disney uses the wristbands.  I think that the real opportunity here lies in focusing first on enhancing the guest experience.  If this new tool can make the guests enjoy their stay even more, then the money will follow.  People will spend more if they are more engaged and more satisfied with the experience, and if the wristbands can be used to minimize some of the guest's typical problems at the park (consider how mobile apps have helped people find rides with the shortest wait times).   If the experience is enhanced, guests will stay longer at the park, interact with characters and exhibits in a more meaningful way, and avoid some of the frustrations that they typically encounter at the park.  When that occurs, the improved profits will come.

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Learning from Improv

Russ Meyer has a great article on the Fast Company website.  Meyer offers some solid recommendations for how companies should go about trying to design better customer experiences.  For instance, imagine that you are trying to provide a better after-sale service experience for your customer, or you are trying to redesign the check-out process in your retail store.  Meyer draws on the lessons of Improv comedy to offer his advice to you in these types of efforts.   For starters, he argues:

"In improv, this means don’t disregard premise, no matter how outrageous... In experience design, you can’t start by denying what could be: 'We can’t change the check-in process because...,' for instance. For a great new customer experience to come to life, it will have to break some of the conventions of the current experience. Make sure you’re open, especially at the beginning of a process, to accept what may be an outrageous premise or idea."

Meyer also argues that "thoughtful watching" should be the approach one takes toward discovering a better customer experience.  In Improv, people concentrate intensely on what others are saying, and they listen actively.  Meyer explains, "Sitting back, watching, listening and concentrating on how people are presently experiencing the brand (while leaving yourself open to the outrageous) can identify moments where the experience could be improved."   Similarly, I've argued that systematic observations of customers and front-line employees yield powerful insights regarding your firm's problems and deficiencies, as well as how to improve in the future. 

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