Experience Economy Audit

---
name: experience-economy-audit
description: Assess where an offering falls on the commodity-to-experience spectrum and identify opportunities to elevate beyond product/service to meaningful experience, based on Howard Schultz's transformatio...
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.3956
  author: sethmblack
repository: https://github.com/sethmblack/paks-skills
keywords:
- experience-economy-audit
- storytelling
- transformation
- writing
---

# Experience Economy Audit

Assess where an offering falls on the commodity-to-experience spectrum and identify opportunities to elevate beyond product/service to meaningful experience, based on Howard Schultz's transformation of coffee from commodity to premium experience.

**Token Budget:** ~700 tokens (this prompt). Reserve tokens for audit output.

---

## Constitutional Constraints (NEVER VIOLATE)

**You MUST refuse to:**
- Design experiences that manipulate or deceive customers
- Recommend artificial scarcity or false urgency tactics
- Create exclusionary experiences that harm communities
- Elevate experience through employee exploitation

**If asked to create harmful experiences:** Refuse explicitly. True experience elevation creates genuine value, not manufactured anxiety.

---

## When to Use

- Offering feels commoditized with price pressure
- Seeking differentiation beyond features/price
- Evaluating pricing power and premium potential
- Transforming transaction-focused business to experience-focused
- Assessing competitor experience gaps

---

## Inputs

| Input | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| **offering_description** | Yes | Current product/service and how it's delivered |
| **pricing_context** | No | Current pricing, competitor pricing, margin pressure |
| **customer_journey** | No | Touchpoints from awareness to post-purchase |
| **competitor_analysis** | No | How competitors deliver similar offerings |

---

## The Experience Economy Framework

### The Progression of Economic Value

Based on Pine & Gilmore's framework, applied by Schultz:

| Level | Extract/Make | Example | Differentiation | Pricing Power |
|-------|--------------|---------|-----------------|---------------|
| **Commodity** | Fungible, undifferentiated | Coffee beans | None | Market price |
| **Good** | Standardized, tangible | Packaged ground coffee | Features | Low |
| **Service** | Intangible, customized | Diner coffee | Convenience | Medium |
| **Experience** | Memorable, personal | Starbucks third place | Emotional | High |
| **Transformation** | Lasting change | Life coaching | Identity | Highest |

### Schultz's Insight

"We're not in the coffee business serving people. We're in the people business serving coffee."

The same beans, prepared the same way, can command 5x the price when wrapped in experience.

---

## Workflow
### Step 1: 1. Determine Current Position

Place the offering on the spectrum:

**Commodity indicators:**
- Customers compare only on price
- No brand loyalty
- Easily substitutable
- Discussed in functional terms

**Good indicators:**
- Some brand preference
- Features matter
- Quality differentiation
- Still price-sensitive

**Service indicators:**
- Convenience valued
- Personal interaction exists
- Some customization
- Relationship emerging

**Experience indicators:**
- Emotional connection
- Memorable moments
- Customer identifies with brand
- Premium pricing accepted

### Step 2: 2. Map the Experience Gap

Identify current touchpoints and their experience level:

| Touchpoint | Current Level | Experience Potential | Gap |
|------------|---------------|---------------------|-----|
| [Discovery] | [C/G/S/E] | [Achievable level] | [Specific opportunity] |
| [Purchase] | [C/G/S/E] | [Achievable level] | [Specific opportunity] |
| [Delivery] | [C/G/S/E] | [Achievable level] | [Specific opportunity] |
| [Use] | [C/G/S/E] | [Achievable level] | [Specific opportunity] |
| [Support] | [C/G/S/E] | [Achievable level] | [Specific opportunity] |

### Step 3: 3. Identify Experience Levers

For each elevation opportunity, consider:

**Sensory Enhancement:**
- What does the customer see, hear, smell, touch, taste?
- How can each sense reinforce the experience?

**Personal Connection:**
- Where can recognition happen?
- How can interaction feel personal, not scripted?

**Ritual Creation:**
- What repeatable moments create meaning?
- How does the customer participate, not just consume?

**Community Formation:**
- Where do customers connect with each other?
- How does using this create belonging?

**Story Integration:**
- What narrative wraps the offering?
- How is the customer the hero?

### Step 4: 4. Calculate Experience Premium

Estimate the value of elevation:

| Current | Elevated | Premium Potential |
|---------|----------|-------------------|
| Commodity price: $X | Experience price: $Y | Premium: $(Y-X) or X% |
| Volume: N | Volume (may decrease): N' | Net revenue change |
| Margin: M% | Experience margin: M'% | Margin improvement |

### Step 5: 5. Prioritize Elevation Opportunities

Rank by:
- Impact on customer perception
- Implementation feasibility
- Competitive differentiation
- Margin improvement potential

---

## Outputs

### Experience Economy Audit Report

```markdown
## Experience Economy Audit: [Offering Name]

### Current Position Assessment

**Current Level:** [Commodity / Good / Service / Experience]

**Evidence:**
- [Indicator 1 placing at this level]
- [Indicator 2 placing at this level]

**Competitor Comparison:**
| Competitor | Level | Our Gap |
|------------|-------|---------|
| [Competitor] | [Level] | [+/-/=] |

### Touchpoint Analysis

| Touchpoint | Current | Potential | Opportunity |
|------------|---------|-----------|-------------|
| Discovery | [C/G/S/E] | [Level] | [Specific elevation] |
| Purchase | [C/G/S/E] | [Level] | [Specific elevation] |
| Delivery | [C/G/S/E] | [Level] | [Specific elevation] |
| Use | [C/G/S/E] | [Level] | [Specific elevation] |
| Support | [C/G/S/E] | [Level] | [Specific elevation] |

### Experience Lever Opportunities

**Sensory Enhancement:**
- [Opportunity to engage senses]

**Personal Connection:**
- [Opportunity for recognition/relationship]

**Ritual Creation:**
- [Opportunity for meaningful repetition]

**Community Formation:**
- [Opportunity for customer-to-customer connection]

**Story Integration:**
- [Opportunity for narrative wrapper]

### Premium Potential

| Scenario | Price | Volume | Revenue | Margin |
|----------|-------|--------|---------|--------|
| Current (as-is) | $X | N | $R | M% |
| Elevated (experience) | $Y | N' | $R' | M'% |
| **Net change** | +$Z | ±N" | ±$R" | +M"% |

### Prioritized Recommendations

#### 1. [Highest Impact Opportunity]
- **Current state:** [What exists now]
- **Elevated state:** [What experience looks like]
- **Implementation:** [How to get there]
- **Expected impact:** [Customer and financial]

#### 2. [Second Priority]
...

### The Schultz Test

Are you in the [product] business serving people, or the people business serving [product]?

**Current answer:** [Which one describes you now]
**Target answer:** [Which one should describe you]
```

---

## Error Handling

| Situation | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| Offering is inherently commodity | Focus on service layer elevation, acknowledge limits |
| No budget for experience investment | Start with zero-cost elements: recognition, ritual, story |
| B2B context | Apply framework - business buyers are still humans seeking experience |
| Digital-only offering | Map digital touchpoints, focus on emotional design |

---

## Constraints

- Do not use this analysis as the sole basis for critical decisions
- Do not apply this framework to situations outside its intended scope
- Acknowledge that analysis is based on available data, which may be incomplete
- Honor the complexity of real-world situations that resist simple categorization
- Present findings with appropriate confidence levels
- Recognize the limits of the methodology

## Additional Notes

**Best practices:**
- Use this skill when the situation clearly matches its intended use cases
- Combine with related skills for comprehensive analysis
- Iterate on outputs if initial results don't fully meet requirements

**Common variations:**
- Adjust the depth of analysis based on available time and information
- Scale the approach for different levels of complexity
- Adapt the output format to audience needs

**When to skip this skill:**
- The situation doesn't match the core use cases
- Simpler approaches would be more appropriate
- Time constraints require faster methods

## Example

**Input:**
```
offering_description: "Online accounting software, subscription model, $50/month"
pricing_context: "Competitors range $30-80/month, features similar"
customer_journey: "Free trial → purchase → monthly use → annual renewal → support calls"
```

**Output:**

## Experience Economy Audit: Online Accounting Software

### Current Position Assessment

**Current Level:** Service (trending toward Commodity)

**Evidence:**
- Customers compare feature checklists
- Price is primary discussion point
- High churn at renewal
- Support calls are transactional

**Competitor Comparison:**
| Competitor | Level | Our Gap |
|------------|-------|---------|
| QuickBooks | Service | = (similar) |
| Xero | Service+ | - (they do community better) |
| Wave | Commodity | + (we're above) |

### Touchpoint Analysis

| Touchpoint | Current | Potential | Opportunity |
|------------|---------|-----------|-------------|
| Discovery | Good | Service | Educational content, not just features |
| Onboarding | Service | Experience | Celebrate first invoice, first profit |
| Monthly use | Good | Service | Recognize patterns, proactive insights |
| Renewal | Commodity | Experience | Anniversary celebration, progress report |
| Support | Service | Experience | Know customer's business, anticipate needs |

### Experience Lever Opportunities

**Sensory Enhancement:**
- Dashboard design that creates calm (soft colors, clear hierarchy)
- Sound design for accomplishments (payment received, books balanced)

**Personal Connection:**
- Support knows business type, challenges, history before call starts
- Account manager assigned at certain revenue levels

**Ritual Creation:**
- Monthly "financial health check" ritual
- Quarterly "profit celebration" notification
- Annual business anniversary in the product

**Community Formation:**
- User forums by business type (restaurant owners helping restaurant owners)
- Success story features ("How [customer] grew 40% using our insights")

**Story Integration:**
- Frame product as "your financial co-pilot" not "accounting software"
- Customer is hero growing their business, we're the guide

### Premium Potential

| Scenario | Price | Churn | LTV | Margin |
|----------|-------|-------|-----|--------|
| Current | $50/mo | 25%/yr | $600 | 60% |
| Elevated | $65/mo | 15%/yr | $1,040 | 65% |
| **Net change** | +$15 | -10pts | +$440 | +5pts |

### Prioritized Recommendations

#### 1. Recognition System (High Impact, Low Cost)
- **Current:** Support treats each call as isolated incident
- **Elevated:** Support sees customer journey, business type, recent wins/challenges
- **Implementation:** CRM integration, customer context card before every interaction
- **Expected impact:** Support satisfaction +30%, renewal rate +5%

#### 2. Milestone Celebration (Medium Impact, Low Cost)
- **Current:** No recognition of customer achievements
- **Elevated:** Celebrate first customer payment, first profitable month, one-year anniversary
- **Implementation:** Triggered notifications, shareable achievement badges
- **Expected impact:** Engagement +20%, word-of-mouth increase

#### 3. Community Formation (High Impact, Medium Cost)
- **Current:** Customers isolated, only interact with us
- **Elevated:** Peer forums by business type, user conferences
- **Implementation:** Forum platform, moderation, content seeding
- **Expected impact:** Switching cost increase, loyalty premium

### The Schultz Test

**Current:** You're in the accounting software business serving businesses.
**Target:** You should be in the small business success business serving accounting needs.

When customers describe you, do they say "our accounting software" or "the tool that helps us grow"?

---

## Integration

This skill is part of the **Howard Schultz** expert methodology. It pairs with:
- `third-place-design` - experience design for physical/digital spaces
- `authenticity-brand-test` - experience must match genuine brand values
- `partner-investment-analysis` - partners deliver the experience