[Editor’s note: This post was last updated on July 22, 2022.]
In November 2021, Tesla became only the fifth company in history to ever attain a $1 trillion market capitalization. It’s an impressive achievement for any company, but especially for an automaker that sold its first vehicle just over a decade ago, entering a notoriously competitive industry that has a history of rejecting newcomers.
One of Tesla’s most distinguishing characteristics is its customer experience, having earned top spots over the past six years in Consumer Reports’ annual owner satisfaction surveys. That rave-worthy experience is shaped not just by the Tesla vehicles themselves, but by all the live, print, and digital touchpoints that the company has with car buyers and owners.
As I explain in my book – FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans – when you look under the hood of Tesla’s customer experience, what becomes clear is that they’re using the very same experience design principles that other legendary companies have long employed. What’s different about Tesla is they’re applying these principles in an industry that has not traditionally been known for its customer focus.
Here are just a few examples of the customer experience design techniques that Tesla utilizes – techniques that any business could leverage to help differentiate itself in the marketplace:
Be an Advocate
Customer engagement strengthens when people see that you’re advocating for them, or for a larger purpose that’s important to them.
Tesla demonstrates advocacy in a myriad of ways, starting with its stated corporate purpose: “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Customers value their association with Tesla, in part because patronizing the automaker makes them feel like they’re part of a bigger, more meaningful crusade. They’re essentially joining a community of like-minded individuals who are advocating for a cause that transcends their own personal interests.
During vehicle ownership, Tesla shows advocacy for customers by wirelessly (and proactively) transmitting updates that improve the car’s features, functionality, and performance. That same technology allows Tesla to sense if something is wrong with the car, in which case they alert the owner and even preorder replacement parts to avoid service delays.
Finally, while the vast majority of vehicle repairs can be done by Tesla’s mobile service units, when an in-store repair is necessary, customers are assigned a technician by name who takes complete ownership for their case, including directly communicating with them throughout the repair process. There’s never any question about who’s working on your vehicle and how to contact them – it’s one Tesla technician serving as your advocate.
Stir Emotion
Renowned social psychologist Jonathan Haidt once observed that “the emotional tail wags the rational dog” — meaning that people’s perceptions of an experience are largely forged not through a logical evaluation of the encounter, but by an emotional one. It’s about how they feel after interacting with your business, your people, or your products.
The typical car-buying experience triggers all kinds of negative emotions: intimidation from high-pressure sales tactics, unease about price ambiguity and needing to negotiate, as well as worry about whether you’re getting the best deal. The resulting emotional “scars” make the experience feel unpleasant.
Tesla takes many of those negative emotions off of the table by employing salaried salespeople whose job is to educate, not give the hard sell. It’s a haggle-free purchase process that fosters happiness instead of hassle, honoring Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s stated belief that “purchasing a Tesla should be a delightful experience.”
Keep It Simple
The way our brains are wired, we recoil from complexity. It’s like an evolutionary fight-or-flight trigger – we essentially run for the hills in an effort to find shelter from mental exertion. In customer experience, this manifests itself as disengagement – sales prospects don’t convert and customers become detached, if not disloyal. Neither is a desirable outcome.
As much as we recoil from complexity, we crave simplicity. Simple is smart. Simple is appealing. Simple is trustworthy. And simple is central to Tesla’s customer experience.
The automaker smartly begins its online purchase experience with a simple, binary decision: Do you want the car configured for long distances, or do you want it configured for performance? That binary choice eases the customer into the decision-making process, and once that choice is made, lots of other components automatically fall into place.
Subsequent screens on the Tesla website guide the buyer through just a handful of additional choices (no more than three). By chunking these decisions into smaller parts, instead of displaying them all on a long, scrollable page, Tesla shields the customer from decision complexity, making the experience feel easier and more satisfying. It’s a very different approach than many other carmakers take, bombarding customers with a seemingly endless array of trims and options.
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As with any company, Tesla can’t rest on its laurels. Its rapid growth creates new challenges for managing the quality, consistency, and accessibility of its customer experience. However, the automaker has, against all odds, created a solid foundation that’s inspired unparalleled enthusiasm among consumers and investors alike.
Before the “Tesla” was an electric car, it was the official unit of measurement for the strength of magnetic fields, a nod to famed engineer Nikola Tesla’s inventions, many of which were grounded in his study of magnetism.
It’s fitting, then, that Tesla is named after the renowned scientist, given that it has engineered a customer experience that is nothing short of magnetic.
[A version of this article originally appeared on Forbes.com.]
Jon Picoult is founder of Watermark Consulting, a customer experience advisory firm that helps companies impress customers and inspire employees, creating raving fans that drive business growth. Author of “FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans,” Picoult is an acclaimed speaker, and advisor to some of world’s foremost brands. Follow Jon on Twitter or Instagram, or subscribe to his monthly eNewsletter.