Although the concept of “customer experience” or “service design” isn’t particularly new (except in terminology), it is a very rare pleasure to find companies that really embraces this idea.
One such company that I often refer to when giving an example of UX in the “real” world is Stone Brewing Company. During my most recent visit to their bistro, I tweeted a picture of my amazing dessert (Strawberry Blue Cheese Jalapeno Cheesecake). Minutes later, the CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewery, Greg Koch, came up to our table asking if I was the one who had just tweeted about the cheesecake. He explained that he was on his way out of the office and had seen my tweet, and wanted to come over to say hi. We chatted for a few minutes, took a fun picture, and, after he left, our server informed us that he had just comped my dessert!
Although Greg has now provided me with a concrete example of the power of Twitter (which I definitely intend to continue using), the more important concept here has nothing to do with Twitter. Twitter was not the reason this happened, it simply acted as the medium which initiated it. This experience was really the result of Stone’s strong business values, including a true and authentic appreciation of their fans — a model that other companies should strive to match in everything they do, both online and off. (Like we needed another reason to drink Stone beer.)