Making information relevant to guests

I recently watched a TED talk about changing behaviour through design by Edward Gardiner. I’ve been interested guest psychology for quite a few years now and that came from working in a customer facing role. As hours rack up working in any given space, you start to notice patterns in customer behaviour caused by the design of the space they’re navigating. I would experiment with different ways of positioning myself, using different words or even changing the environment by moving trash cans and such. You would not believe how powerful some changes can be.

I’ll probably be talking about designing for behaviour on this blog a lot in the future, but today I just wanted to talk about a couple of things Gardiner discusses and some initial thoughts on how these ideas could be implemented within theme parks.

Make information relevant to people

When provided information about calorie content in foods, customers responded best when the data was displayed as the amount of minutes exercise they would have to do to burn it off. Linking the information to their daily life, making it relevant to them. I wondered, could guest behaviours that negatively impacts the efficient loading of rides, for example, be partially combatted by such methods? Could signage in queue lines aimed at the bored, stationary, captive audience feed information this way? “Help us reduce your queueing time by preparing for boarding” followed by simple instructions relevant to that specific ride, maybe. There are existing examples of this, usually in video format throughout queue lines or when boarding, aiming to both entertain guests and teach them how to board, what to do with loose items, etc. But I’d love to see more examples attempt to make the information relevant to individuals by telling them that it affects them.

 Discover the problem

What behaviour are you trying to change and why are people behaving that way? As an extreme example, why do guests do unsafe things like climb fences into restricted areas? There will be a reason - retrieve a lost hat, for example. Often people are so caught up in their need that despite understanding a closed gate means they shouldn’t enter, they will still try because in that moment they believe their issue is unique. So, if you have a situation where guests are routinely doing something they obviously shouldn't, identify what the reason is. Solve with well designed signage placed at eye height in appropriate communicative colour and font designed to demand attention. But also, inform them of information that is relevant to them - “danger of death” or “a member of staff will be with you shortly” or “please visit guest services to report lost items” etc. This way, they have information that hopefully answers their question and prevents them feeling alone and having to solve the issue themselves, right now.