Talk about a great experience! I got off the phone just now with the automated voice at Pacific Gas & Electric. I’m moving to a new home and in less than 4 minutes, I managed to call in and cancel service.

Here’s what made it exceptionally easy and worthy of telling someone about:

• Technology: The voice recognition software was seamless and knew exactly what I was saying (my address, the address I’m moving to, the date I want to cancel service).
• Personalization: Integration of their automated voice response system with their customer database allowed them to know what house I was calling about based on my cell phone number.
• Scenario design: The automated responses to my questions and prompts were exactly what I was expecting to hear. I never had to give the dreaded “None of these” voice response.
• NO WAIT TIME. No good experience starts off with a 20 minute wait while you are trying to enjoy your lunch break.

What can we all learn from this?

User experience and integrated marketing are based on the same principles. Each interaction should leverage prior interactions to improve the experience. And, each interaction should be used to optimize the users’ possible future actions. In this case, PG&E used my phone number to bring up my account, instead of asking me to enter in a 12 digit account number. Then, they used this as an opportunity to sell me their services in my new home.

Creating these kinds of experiences in a digital setting, in automated voice or anywhere else relies on more than personas and use cases. Knowledge of the user must come together with technology and people who have the knowhow to ask the right questions (What will the user do next? What would influence them to sign up at their new address?)

This one interaction is part of my personal total user experience with PG&E. I’ll be incredibly impressed if I receive a direct mail piece at my new address (which PG&E now knows) welcoming me to the neighborhood.