#7: 10 star experiences
How Snow White inspired Airbnb
👋 Hi friends, it's Hesam with issue #7 of 4 bits. 4 bits is a biweekly newsletter where I share thoughts and musings on how to build memorable experiences.
One quick life update:
🤠 Visited a friend's ranch this past weekend in Ledbetter, TX.
🍗 Had BBQ, drank whiskey, drove an ATV, and listened to music on the best home sound system I've ever heard.
🌳 Reminded of how we need to leave the city more regularly. Being surrounded by nature and open space is absolute bliss.
10 star experiences
What does a ten star experience look like?
After picking up Walt Disney’s biography during a holiday break, Brian Chesky was inspired. As CEO of Airbnb, Brian had witnessed the company experience rocket ship growth but was struggling with what to do next.
Brian learned that in the mid-1930s, Disney was making the transition to creating their first feature-length animated film, Snow White.
This was a big risk for Disney. Every production up until then had been a short cartoon. How could they make a longer story that was captivating with characters that people would love?
The answer was by building a storyboard.
If you collected comics like I did as a kid, you're familiar with the concept of a storyboard. A storyboard is an outline of a story, in a series of boxes, showing the passage of time and a sequence of events. Whether it's Snow White meeting the seven dwarfs for the first time or the flow of how someone interacts with a product or service, a storyboard visualizes what happens step by step.
Brian was convinced that a storyboard would help guide his team on what to do next. He recounts the experience in a recent interview and my key takeaways are below.
Zooming into a particular moment
The Airbnb team launched "Project Snow White" and started storyboarding. They hired an animator from Pixar and mapped out the experience of an Airbnb guest from start to finish.
Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb, shares the process:
“One thing that's really helped is a storyboard we created that depicts the different steps someone goes through from the time she first hears about Airbnb to the time she leaves post-visit feedback...We then had a roadmap for figuring out what a customer expects in each of those situations, what we were doing to meet those expectations and where we had an opportunity to create a "wow" moment.”
As they storyboarded the perfect experience for Airbnb, the team zoomed in on one particular moment where they could "wow" someone.
That moment was when a guest checks into their Airbnb. It's the moment of truth.
The bad version of a check-in is when the host doesn't show up. The good version is when they do show up.
And usually, when nothing bad happens during your stay, you leave a 5 star review.
But how could Airbnb make an experience people truly love? Beyond what you expect? They started to imagine possibilities.
What if there was a 6 star experience? What would that look like? A 6 star experience is a bottle of wine waiting at the table when you check in, a bowl of fruit, and a handwritten note.
What about a 7 star experience? A 7 star experience is when the host gets you a limo, they pick you up at the airport, and there’s a curated experience. You get to the house, they know you like surfing, and there's a surfboard waiting for you.
How would you create an 8 star experience? An 8 star experience is you get to the airport and a giant elephant arrives for you. You get on the elephant and there's a parade in your honor following you to your Airbnb.
What about a 9 star experience? A 9 star experience is The Beatles check in. You land and waiting at the airport there's 5,000 teenagers cheering your name. You get to the Airbnb and there's a press conference in the front lawn.
And what if you could create a 10 star experience? A 10 star experience is when you show up and Elon Musk is there. He says "we're going to space" and you go. You eventually come back, though.
The point of this exercise is that while you can't make an 8, 9, or 10 star experience, most people only try to design something that's just good enough.
But if you can add that 6th or 7th star, if you aim to design something really amazing, you use the handcrafted part of your brain to create the perfect experience. And when people love your product or service, they’ll tell others.
Because when people love what you make for them, they become your marketing department.
Hi Hesam! Once again, spot on! I LOVE storyboards as a way to plan, show or design services. Services are mostly sequences, and a storyboard helps us see that process and then plan accordingly. The other aspect I enjoyed is the 6 to 10 star idea. That reminded me of the 10x approach that X (Google X) mentions. What if we could do this 10 times (faster, better, nicer, more creative...choose your own). As you say, you don't have to get to Elon Musk (or Taylor swift, as per the prior post) to be at your door, but 10x thinking can help ypu think about things that will make a real difference, and not just an incremental improvement! Thanks for your reflections Hesam!!