We are ready for true values

Author

Gerjan Boer

Published

26 June 2020

Reading time

2 minutes

Recently I ordered a book online from my bookstore. The next step would be to receive email when the book had arrived, and then pick it up at the bookstore. Of course, I could also have ordered the book from Bol.com, but I do this sort of thing deliberately to save on a courier ride to my house, and to give myself some exercise. And a chat. The same day I got a call from the shop owner who apologized for the fact that the book could not be delivered the next day. I was surprised; apparently that was the standard, which she could not meet, while I find other things more important.

I thought about it further. This looked like a mismatch of values. In my view, things like the environment, health and connection are important, which is why I chose the bookstore. However, it seems that fast delivery is important to the bookstore. But it could also be that fast delivery has become important for the bookstore to be able to compete with Bol.com. Or that fast delivery has unintentionally become the norm, the “permission to play” in the 24/7 economy. In order to be able to meet this standard, order pickers have to work evening or night shifts. Yet the order pickers also have values they find important: health and freedom. These values are under pressure due to the value of fast delivery. Because I think health and freedom for fellow human beings are more important, I would rather not order from a webshop with “Ordered today, at your home tomorrow." Just give me a button "Take it easy".

Picture by Rumman Amin

It's time for more than just “Ordered today, at your home tomorrow." There will be web shops, in fact they already exist, which distinguish themselves on other values. For example, book webshop Youbedo donates up to 12% of your purchase to a charity organization of your choice. Recently I saw an example at the local library, which had also turned into a kind of webshop during corona times. The idea is that you reserve books, which are then placed in a bag for you. My wife reserved a book there. When she picked it up, she got an extra bag and a note. “We've included some books that you'll probably like as well!”. From this speak values like connection, being known and being surprised.

Many consumers look for real values and meaning. Generation Z is a good example of this. If companies want to make them customers, keep them as customers, they must deliver those real values in their products and services, as well as propagate them in all their communication (both physical and digital). Are they responding to trend-sensitive standards in the market? Or do they look for what customers find important, what really suits them as a company and do they dare to show that in their products, services and communications? You always have something more in store to distinguish yourself. Bookstores certainly do!

We (re)design services and communication based on shared values. At Informaat we call this True experience design.. Together with my colleagues I work on methods and techniques to improve on this.