The first mini episode of CX Patterns, what I'm calling Loose Threads & Missing Threads, correcting any mistakes, and adding any overlooked examples or points from the main episode.

Links:

Push Notification Fatigue

Carrot Weather App

Thanks to my talented colleague Emily Tolmer for the cover art. Thanks to my friends at Moon Island for the music.

Full Transcript: Loose Threads and Missing Threads: Anticipation Edition

Hi, Sam stern here again. So new cx patterns episodes will drop every two weeks but I had a few things I didn't cover in the last episode And it occurred to me that this is probably going to happen every episode.

You put something out in the world and the minute you do a few more examples or ideas pop into your head but also feedback and suggestions from people who engage with the content thank you by the way makes you wish you could update the episode. At least it makes me feel that way. So instead of editing every episode incessantly, not a healthy habit, I thought I would release a mini episode in between the main episodes to share a few more tidbits.

I'm calling these Loose Threads and Missing Threads riffing on the pattern's theme. Loose Threads are where I think I got something wrong, or at least not quite right. And Missing Threads are something left out that I want to include.

So first a loose thread from the anticipation episode. There was a wonderful cartoon shared on LinkedIn this week that made its way to me thanks to Gloria Gupta. Appreciate the share. The cartoon, linked in the show notes, highlighted the absurd number of notifications we get. Estimates Range as high as 80 per day for an average smartphone user. And so the implication of that is that it is easy to take an idea like the one I shared in the first episode of the podcast: set reasonable expectations for the upcoming experience, and build anticipation for it so customers are excited. You can take that to an extreme that is no longer a good experience. That's the lesson from this cartoon and it's a great caveat of caution to add.

And now a missing thread. I mentioned in the podcast that barring a few notable exceptions surprise and delight moments are always provided through human interactions. So I wanted to share one of those notable exceptions the Carrot Weather App. The snarky, funny, insulting tone of the weather updates it provides makes my day, almost every day. You can set the notifications along a few dimensions, politics for instance from apolitical to anarchist with stops in between from conservative to liberal you can imagine all the different settings. You can also turn the profanity on or off and turn the personality up to 11, if you like which is my preferred setting the Overkill Personality. Anyway, I think the creativity, the humor, the surprising references in the notifications, combined with actual accurate weather forecasting available with one click or as a notification - see above - which makes it effective and easy while also having a strong emotional appeal that the user can personalize. I think all of that together nails the equation for digitally delivered surprise and delight moments.

That's all for now thanks for listening to the first loose threads and missing threads Mini episode of the CX patterns podcast I'll be back next week with a full episode.

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