What do Innovation, Design Thinking, and Marketing have in common with Romance, Missions, and Awesome Restaurants? All aim to give a newcomer more than they thought they wanted.

1. Better than Best
The Problem of Delight
An Archestra notebook.
© 2013 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research

2. Better than Best
The essence of delight is that it is extraordinary.
Ordinary is not the same for everyone. People have their own idea of what is
ordinary or not, although they may be aware of what others think is ordinary.
We forget that most of the time what people say they want is likely something less
than what is actually their “ideal”, because normally their expectations are the
boundary within which they think. In fact, because of that, their idea of the ideal is
often far less defined than is “the best that they expect”.
When expectations are shared, there is consistency in noticing when things are
extraordinary.
But more importantly, for any given party, regardless of other parties, there is even
consistency in how things go from being ordinary to extra.

3. What Is Experienced
Increasing Fit For Purpose
Increasing Perceived Quality
Compatible
Appropriate
Exciting
Surprising
DELIGHTFUL
unusual
special
satisfying
Competitive
INTERESTING
normal
atypical
typical
Qualified
ORDINARY
The path to “delight” is about why something is extra-ordinary. Quality
and purpose are key factors; but more than anything else, the reason is
about how something compares to circumstances at the time.
© 2013 Malcolm Ryder / archestra
Usually the sense of
delight lies beyond what
we will already say is good
enough. This is because
we gauge what we’re
offered against what is
already familiar in practice
or in other source of
awareness. In a fuzzy kind
of way, we sense the
difference between
ordinary and anything
more, and usually we
don’t need to get specific
about it unless we’re
solving a problem. But we
can think in “solution”
terms like quality and
purpose…

4. Saying What We Mean
As available versus Circumstance
Compatible
Usable, but
Is this all?
Surprising
(It’s a good fit for
me now, as is)
(This changes
me, enjoyably)
Appreciated
Desired
Ideal
Accepted
Endorsed
Preferred
Required
Recommended
Intended
(vs. need)
Competitive
(vs. risk)
Qualified
(vs. definition)
Expectations versus circumstances consistently frame the experience of
delight, as well as the range of other typical evaluations that are lesser
than delight and somewhat predictably so.
© 2013 Malcolm Ryder / archestra
Appealing, but
What’s the catch?
As available versus Expectations
Charming, but
Is this hype?
Exciting
(I may need to change it
or change myself, a bit)
Pros vs. Cons
Appropriate

5. Why don’t customers know that your offering is
delightful, anyway?
• Preference is not enough
• Delight is circumstantial
• If the customer is not already in the right circumstance to be
delighted, then either you’ll have to create the circumstance around
them, or you’ll have to move them into the circumstance
• Delight changes the way the customer feels about themselves
• Delight is not a degree of something else; it is something on its own
that can come (i.e. be provided) in very small quantity, very large, or
somewhere in between