SERVICE DESIGN AND DIGITAL IDENTITIES — PART 2: NEW CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
German version available
When we think of digital identities, we often think of a regulatory context: the electronic signature, the vaccination certificate, the digital driver’s license, the digital ID card. But digital identity starts much earlier and has very different facets.
As soon as we create an account, we have a digital identity — be it with a clear name or under a pseudonym. If these digital identities become avatars, then completely new possibilities for the customer experience arise.
BACK TO THE BEGINNINGS OF THE INTERNET
Anonymity for everything and everyone was the promise of the Internet in its early days. Because: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
A lot has changed since then. On the one hand, algorithms can draw conclusions about the actual identity very early on, and on the other, anonymity is used for discrediting, hatred and worse. Nevertheless, the basic possibility of assuming another identity or being different is still there.
“What if …?” The proximity to storytelling and the design of different “experiences” is therefore obvious. In the meantime, the technical possibilities have reached the point where these events can be an actual experience. Anyone who has ever entered a virtual conference world instead of a video conference in pandemic times knows what a difference it makes when avatars sit down together at a table. The video call communication remains the same, but it feels different.
DIGITAL IDENTITIES ARE ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN GAMING
These virtual worlds are already a significant economic factor due to online games. The corresponding companies are highly traded. From a CX point of view, however, completely different aspects are interesting, which surprisingly are reflected even in the terms: In the game FIFA, there is the “Journey Mode”. As in a customer journey map, I slip into the role of a person. The respective perspectives are called POV (Point of View) in the games and in the jargon of the players. This is what we also know from the design thinking process.
I can become who I always wanted to be in the virtual, I can change my clothes and my appearance. I meet others, interact with them, trade stocks, buy real estate, have a job, and much more. So I could end up living my own virtual life, which brings us to the idea of a “metaverse,” a fictional universe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse).
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A METAVERSE
These ideas of a metaverse are currently being discussed a lot and certainly give the big direction. Even if they will only be relevant in a few years’ time. But today’s possibilities are already sufficient for a new design of the customer experience and offer considerable potential to (still) differentiate from the competition.
Of course, this is where the fashion industry intrudes — basically virtual dress-up dolls. “When we try on a piece of clothing, we don’t just evaluate whether it fits our body. (…) We judge whether the fit shows how we want to present ourselves to the outside world. So a certain narrative [created by a brand] gives consumers the opportunity to see themselves as part of a certain group,” said researcher Chinouk Filique de Miranda in a presentation at the Responsible Fashion Series conference (“Digital Dimensions: The Aestheticization of Online Identity”). And the fashion-savvy target group is already familiar with these opportunities for virtual dressing from the gaming world.
And we can transfer the experience already enjoyed in online games to other industries as well. Whenever I want to gain certainty for a decision (and these are mostly decisions of huge material or immaterial value), it can help me in the future to be able to experience a “what if” scenario virtually in advance. Buying real estate, choosing a new job, driving a new car, using a product in general, even the “journey” of my retirement planning could be discovered with my digital identity.
Whether we then call these experiences, which are made possible for our digital alter ego — i.e., our digital identity — Digital Experience or continue to call them Customer Experience, is ultimately irrelevant. What matters is that we use service design to create these experiences in the digital world.
Author: Stefan Wacker, Stefan Wacker
