Paying before the delivery of the experience reduces the consumer’s empowerment in the relationship. Transparency is reduced, with the consumer unsure of the details of the service to be provided until its completion. This limits the ability of the consumer to negotiate value or have a frank discussion with the service provider. The customer would usually have to make an effort to have their complaints heard, possibly in some formal, systematic way that further distances the service from the customer.

The consumer and provider have an opportunity to action the end.

After both parties acknowledge that the end is going to happen, events with a purpose start to take place. The participants will be moving beyond words and intentions to changing states and moving matter.

This may be defined as an unplanned, and often uncomfortable separation between the provider and the consumer. For products, we experience items ending through poor manufacture or exceeding the expectations of normal usage. Common examples could be burning through a pan in the kitchen or finding a newly-purchased item shattered on delivery.

For services, consumers often have to sign some sort of contract. This could be an agreement between the provider and consumer describing the service delivery. Such an agreement usually has a planned type of ending written into it. It might be that a Time Out ending, or a Task/Event has been completed.
If the service breaks outside these planned endings, then the situation often gets legal and uncomfortable.

Branding often talks about telling the authentic story to the consumer. Telling the story of the product. But how far does that really go? It’s rarely all the way to the end. Are brands and product missing the best part of the story?

Role Exit second stage

Now the individual has come to the acknowledgement (First Stage of Role Exit) that they need to change roles, they will start to actively seek alternatives.

Role Exit stage one.
The wonderful book, Becoming an Ex, by Helen Rose Ebaugh, reflects what people go through when considering changing their role in a variety of situations, whether this is a job, a relationship, or their services and products.

Moving out of reach of the service or product relationship brings the end.

This kind of ending occurs when the experience ceases because the location has changed. When a person has moved away, they might be outside the distribution of service coverage. In digital, consumers experience a proximity type ending when they move from one digital platform to another. This could be Apple to Android, for example. Apps and data that were once available have now moved out of reach.

What is Endineering?
This is a definition of Endineering and the practice of designing consumer off-boarding experiences.

Ending type No. 3. Task / Event Completion.

A single task achieved by packaging (protect product while shipping), or a previously-defined event offered by the provider (flight to Paris), or a task agreed between the consumer and the provider (fix my tap). Once this task / event has taken place to the satisfaction of parties, the experience has ended.

The best of future businesses will look at the ending as part of a longer strategy. This would be one that considers a customer’s situation across multiple engagements. These may be scattered over years, maybe even decades. In such a case a business needs to consider itself a multiple engagement provider. It would take the off-boarding as seriously as the on-boarding.

The problem with the single engagement model is that ends happen.

Business models are changing. Consumers don’t stay with one brand forever. They move between brands, embracing mobility in the modern marketplace. Customers enjoy the benefits of faster account creation, more convenient payment mechanisms and delivery times counted in minutes. Very few customers are really new to any market nowadays.

Phase 1 of the consumer off-boarding experience

The crack of doubt is a subtle, almost subconscious feeling. It is hard to define for the consumer until it happens. The run up to the end of a consumer relationship can come about through a collection of nuanced changes in situations. But generally, one issue will push the relationship to the edge.