Empathy: From Product to Experience

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Empathy

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Years ago Doug Dietz wrapped up a project working on a brand new, beautiful GE MRI machine. While he was proudly waiting to see his design live in the hospital he encountered a young patient about to be scanned. She was clearly terrified, tears rolling down her face. Doug suddenly saw the situation through her eyes.

“The room itself is kind of dark and has those flickering fluorescent lights,” he remembers in his TEDx talk. He added, “that machine that I had designed basically looked like a brick with a hole in it.”

This moment altered his perspective forever. He knew he had to make a change. The goal was to make the MRI experience less terrifying. How could he create an experience that children would love? From this new approach came an amazing series of story adventures and decorated rooms. The child enters something like a pirate ship for the scan. Their imaginations are fired up with an adventure story and the scan is done with no stress.

RESULTS: Patient satisfaction scores went up to 90%. Children suffer less anxiety during their MRI scans. Some even ask their parents if they can “come back tomorrow.” Employees benefit from the lack of drama. Society benefits as scans are more accurate and can be done more quickly.

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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.

Find Stan’s in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops, and Goldfish tank programs at StanPhelps.com.

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