H2H Redux: The Human Experience Revolution
Six years after I bemoaned the B2B and B2C divisions that turn humans into data points in an article, here we are in 2024 – drowning in a sea of customer experience strategies, CX tools, investment in “the customer” and that promise of personalisation while altogether delivering nothing more than algorithmic cold comfort.
The Great CX Delusion: Beyond the Data Mirage
Imagine trying to understand the ocean by counting drops of water. That's exactly how we're approaching customer experience – meticulously measuring, while completely missing the point.
Our brains are not computers. They're wild, chaotic ecosystems of emotion, memory, and split-second decisions that would make any algorithm weep. This is a drum I very regularly, and I’d hazard a guess, annoyingly, bang on.
It’s also leading thinkers in this field. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett blows the whistle on our biggest misconception: emotions aren't just reactions. They're predictions.
Your brain is constantly running an unconscious simulation, creating experiences before they even happen. And yet, we're trying to map human experience like it's a bus route.
Current UX, CX and Service Design processes would put you in a very weird box. One where you're not a person anymore. You're a data point. A pixel in some designer’s wet dream of "personalisation".
But here's the kicker – humans are gloriously, magnificently unpredictable. We're not algorithms waiting to be solved. We're chaos agents with coffee addictions and inexplicable emotional attachments to our year-old socks.
Let's break down the current Customer Experience landscape:
Personas? More like caricatures.
Journey Maps? Fantasy fiction with spreadsheet formatting.
Predictive Analytics? A fancy way of saying "we're guessing, but with graphs”.
The research backs this up. Behaviourists have been screaming from the rooftops for years: humans don't make rational decisions. We make feeling-based, context-driven, sometimes completely bonkers choices.
Dan Ariely – legend in the field – has consistently shown that our decision-making is about as predictable as a drunk galah at a meat raffle.
What if – and hear me out – we stopped trying to wrangle human experience into neat little boxes? What if we acknowledged that every customer interaction is fundamentally a human interaction?
Businesses spend millions trying to predict behaviour when they could be creating genuine connections. We're so busy measuring the journey that we've forgotten about the traveller.
The Practical Rebellion: Everyday Human-First Strategies
1. Ditch the Persona Playbook
Those meticulously crafted customer personas? Chuck them.
Every time some team of service designers, or marketers, or analysts create a persona named "Tech-Savvy Trevor" or "Millennial Megan", a little piece of human complexity dies.
Real people don't live in neat demographic boxes. They're walking contradictions – the tech CEO who loves vintage vinyl, the tradie with a PhD in philosophy.
So what should I do? Instead of building personas, have real conversations. Actually talk to your customers. Not surveys. Not focus groups. Real, messy, unpredictable human dialogue. And also remember that they’ll probably lie too. Yup. It’s messy. Talk to many.
2. Embrace Imperfection
Businesses are terrified of showing vulnerability. But here's a radical thought: Humans connect through flaws, not facades.
When something goes wrong:
Admit it
Explain it
Fix it
Maybe even laugh about it
Your customers don't expect perfection. They expect honesty.
An Interdisciplinary Truth Bomb
Let's cross-pollinate some insights:
Neuroscience says: We're prediction machines, not rational calculators
Psychology argues: Emotions drive decisions more than logic
Anthropology reveals: Context is everything
Complexity theory suggests: Human systems are fundamentally unpredictable
Like everyone’s favourite, Simon Sinek, says as he cuts through the noise: "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."
Not a data point. Not a demographic. A story.
3. Design for Humanity, Not Metrics
Every touchpoint is an opportunity for genuine connection. Consider:
Your hold music (Please. No more elevator jazz.)
Your error messages
Your automated responses
These aren't just functional communications. They're conversations.
Think of an error message that says: "Whoops, something's gone a bit sideways. We're working on it, and we're as frustrated as you are."
Instead of "ERROR 404: PAGE NOT FOUND".
4. The Empathy Hack: Context Over Calculation
Research consistently shows that emotional context can override rational decision-making by up to 70%.
Translation: Your fancy algorithm doesn't understand why someone might buy ice cream at midnight during a breakup. It is entirely built on chasing the metrics and incentives it is built for.
Forget KPIs. Introduce HPIs:
Genuine interactions
Moments of unexpected delight
Times you made someone's day just a little bit easier
And what about these brain-melting contradictions?
The fitness fanatic who binge-watches reality TV
The eco-warrior driving a not-so-eco car
The minimalist with a wardrobe that looks like a small country's inventory
Humans are walking, talking contradiction machines.
We contain multitudes. We defy categorisation.
The Real-World Rebellion Toolkit
Kill the Script Corporate speak is the linguistic equivalent of beige wallpaper. Talk like a human. Use contractions. Make jokes. Show personality.
Slow Down Not everything needs an immediate response. Sometimes, taking time demonstrates you're actually thinking, not just processing.
Question Everything Why do we do things this way? Because "that's how it's always been done" is the laziest excuse in business.
The Fundamental Truth
We're not selling products or services. We're facilitating human experiences.
Every email, every interaction, every single touchpoint is a moment of human connection. Treat it like the precious, fragile, extraordinary thing it is.
To every business leader, marketing manager, customer experience designer: Stop trying to predict human behaviour. Start creating spaces where humans can be gloriously, messily themselves.
We're only human, after all.
Empathy isn't a strategy. It's not something you can A/B test or optimise. It's a lived experience.
When we reduce human interaction to metrics, we lose the magic. The unexpected. The beautiful, messy complexity of being alive.
Your customers aren't data points. They're walking universes of experience, contradiction, and potential.
And isn't that the most beautiful complexity of all?