Every March, children run around, eagerly filling baskets with Easter eggs. The eggs come in all sorts of colors and sizes, some hard to find, some more easily discovered.  The ritual continues every year with the Easter Bunny (or parents in rarer cases) hiding eggs to impart joy and wonder in innocent children.

One can analogize that smart companies have taken over the role of the Easter bunny, trying to bring joy and delight to customers, not children.

While the holistic brand experience, or Easter egg hunt, looks at the sum of these interactions – each interaction can be broken down further into a series of microinteractions.  These small-scale opportunities, when carefully tied back to the brand, give birth to what Forrester calls ‘Signature Moments’ – which we define as:

Memorably crafted and branded microinteractions that deliver delight and value to customers in an often subtle yet, recognizable way.

In my report, Differentiate your Customer Experiences with Signature Moments, I describe the ‘what, how, and where’ of Signature Moments, provide examples, and look at how they can be carefully designed and infused into broader customer journeys to delight, differentiate and ultimately resonate with local customers.

During ideation of these moments, take stock of the following:

  • Is it sufficiently differentiating?Assess whether the proposed microinteraction is like a literal signature, unique only to your company and not easily replicated by others in the market.
  • Does it help brand recognition? Check that the microinteraction contains elements of your brand identity or messaging that can easily be linked back to your company.
  • Does it identify with its origin? Assess whether the signature moment expresses any information about where the company is from, where the product was made or the local market in which it is sold. If not, rethink how it might encapsulate local elements.
  • Does it deliver high customer value? Evaluate the level of value the signature moment offers the customer. Ask yourself if it something the customer will keep and remember or is it something that will be quickly discarded.

Well equipped with unique insights into the motivations and latent needs of the customer gained through ethnography and an empathetic understanding of customer expectations, companies can begin designing products and service scenarios around their customers. It’s good practice to revisit your journey maps to keep them current and relevant. Next time, spend more time flushing out the details of interactions along the journey to identify which microinteractions are ripe to be localized and branded as a signature moment.