Elevating customer experience with signature delights
How brands can design customer experiences that surprise, delight and endure.
Scott Lee
15 October 2025
4 min read
When we look back on experiences, our memories aren’t shaped by a neat average of satisfaction scores, they’re defined by the peaks and the endings. Psychologists call this the ‘peak-end rule’ and it explains why the dazzling parade and fireworks at the close of a Disneyland trip become the lasting highlight, rather than the waiting in long lines.
Like a handwritten note with your order or a fitting room that immediately makes you feel at ease, these details matter. This is why brands should focus on designing moments that go beyond basic utility to spark emotion, create joy and leave a long-lasting impression.
From fixing problems to sparking joy
In our recent What Matters 2025 trend report we found that 84% of people surveyed globally find it important to find little moments of joy – playful pauses such as laughing with friends, savouring a coffee, or enjoying a small act of self-care to provide a welcome break from life’s demands.
The Spanish word ‘Sobremesa’ refers to the tradition of lingering at a dinner table after a meal, sharing stories and savouring company instead of rushing to the next thing. These moments may seem minor, but they linger in memory and make experiences memorable.
And our recent Experience in flux report showed that people are looking for more of these micro joys in their experiences from brands:
- 81% value small moments of surprise or joy in their interactions with brands
- 77% remember brands that go above and beyond to delight them
A campaign from South African fast-food brand Chicken Licken captures this perfectly: “It’s the little things that satisfy us most.”
These small joys remind us that delight isn’t grand gestures or fleeting thrills. It’s about feeling seen and uplifted. From packaging that’s a pleasure to open to a concierge who remembers your name, true delight happens when brands design with empathy and intention. It’s these thoughtful details that turn everyday interactions into something memorable.
Through our work, we’ve identified four ‘delight codes’ or principles for designing meaningful moments that spark emotion.
Delight principles
Milestone Magic
Delight through celebrating personal moments as interactive or playful moments of validation, pride and agency.
Surprise sparks
Small sparks of surprise break through the predictable and the everyday to create moments that feel magical.
Peer power
Authentic, peer-driven connection fuelling joy together, receiving kudos connecting around shared passions.
Sensory refresh
Tactile, low-stimulation or sensory interactions, that offer moments of grounding and emotional relief.
Let’s zoom in on two of these codes: ‘sensory refresh’, and ‘milestone magic’.
Sensory refresh
Sensory refresh is rooted in consumers’ needs for slowness, grounding and reconnection in an increasingly noisy and overstimulating world. Rather than louder, brighter or more attention-grabbing experiences, this code is about creating thoughtful sensory moments that bring people back to the present and to themselves. It’s about offering an antidote to overload – through design that soothes, balances and engages sense in nuanced ways.
And consumers place importance on these sensory elements:
- 70% want brands to provide calm and comforting experiences when they need them
- 53% want tactile sensory interactions that bring them joy
There is a powerful opportunity for brands to design experiences that cut through digital fatigue and cultivate calm in everyday interactions. From immersive retail environments that use subtle lighting and soundscapes, or healthcare and hospitality spaces that offer grounded waiting rooms, to workplaces that integrate tactile or calming design elements. Sensory refresh helps brands connect with consumers across generations. It reframes ‘delight’ not as a burst of energy but as a restorative pause that people remember because of how it made them feel.
A powerful illustration of our Sensory refresh code is the xydrobe pod, which reimagines virtual reality by blending technology with multi-sensory design. Within this one-person capsule sight, sound, scent and touch work in harmony to create calm, immersive experiences that elevate brand storytelling.
“The Exceptional Voyage” is an example of taking this further. This marked a landmark collaboration between Vacheron Constantin and Harrods, brought to life by xydrobe and their pioneering 4D technology. The experience explores Harrods DNA through a multisensory journey in a state-of-the-art VR cinema for up to 20 people, where even the lounge is customisable. Aligned with our Sensory refresh code, it shows how subtle, integrated sensory cues can reconnect people with the present while transforming narratives into memorable journeys – redefining how world-class brands engage with their audiences.
Another example is Singapore Airlines “Five senses of service” approach. From soft lighting and calming textures to a signature scent used across lounges and cabins, they create a multi-sensory journey designed to help passengers feel calm, cared for and restored.
Brands should avoid overstimulating interfaces, generic sensory add-ons that feel tokenistic and any design that leaves consumers without an escape hatch – a way to step back or reset if needed.
But if done right, sensory refresh creates moments of gentle connection that can resonate across all generations.
Milestone Magic
Milestone magic transforms personal achievements into moments of delight, turning ordinary milestones into playful, interactive celebrations. By highlighting accomplishments – big or small – it creates experiences that validate effort, spark pride and reinforce a sense of agency. Each interaction is designed not just to acknowledge success, but to make the recognition feel engaging, memorable and personal. Inviting people to savour their progress and feel genuinely celebrated.
And, across generations, people feel strongly that recognition matters:
- 74% say it’s important that brands genuinely notice their progress
- 74% value celebrations of personal milestones
Take Strava. Every run, ride or workout is tracked, because we all know if our workout isn’t recorded on Strava, did it even happen?! It’s the simple act of receiving “kudos” from friends, family, strangers that turns a personal achievement into a shared moment of recognition.
These small, thoughtful interactions highlight progress, validate effort and make any accomplishment feel meaningful – exactly the kind of experience people crave. Strava even has a trophy case displaying all the challenges that have been completed and for each challenge users are awarded a badge for their achievements – we might soon be asking each other ‘How big is your trophy case?’
Brands should ensure celebrations feel authentic, inclusive and empowering rather than gimmicky or manipulative. Milestones should be meaningful, not artificially inflated. Recognition works best when it’s sincere, flexible to different paces of progress and joyful without being infantilising. Brands should avoid turning milestones into transactional prompts, ensure experiences are accessible and culturally sensitive and give people agency over how (or if) they want to be celebrated.
Done well, the magic amplifies pride and progress.
Driving forward with signature delights
There are countless ways for brands to stand out, but it’s the signature delights, the peak moments of joy, recognition and emotion that people really remember. Whether it’s a restorative pause, a playful celebration or a milestone that feels genuinely seen, these experiences become part of a brand’s DNA, shaping not just memories but loyalty.
We help brands translate these delight codes into tangible experiences using our Now-Wow-How framework. It’s a structured approach that connects emotional insight with practical design:
- Now: Identify the emotional peaks in the current experience. We start by understanding the moments that already resonate, synthesising existing research and mapping key touchpoints.
- Wow: Reframe touchpoints into signature moments of care or delight. Using insights from communities, workshops and AI-driven analysis, we generate ideas that surprise, uplift and emotionally engage.
- How: Co-create and test concepts with stakeholders and participants. Ideas are prototyped, refined and validated to ensure they are feasible, impactful and truly resonate with people.
When brands design for delight, the results are tangible. Our projects show NPS scores rising by up to 20 points when journeys shift from frictionless to truly distinctive.
Because in the end, growth doesn’t come from satisfaction alone. It comes from the moments that make people feel something they’ll never forget.
*The numbers in this article are taken from our research with 1395 people across: China, UK and US.
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