Experience (or gap) analysis is a tool which can be used to identify the differences between a users expectations of a service and their actual experience. People’s experience of a product or service will certainly be influenced by their expectations and prior knowledge.

Experience analysis will uncover areas for improvement in the service itself or the way it is perceived. It can be a useful way to identify new opportunities for innovation or to test prototypes.

Example
In the BBC stories at Kew project we administered two surveys, one before people tried and tested the mobile guide on location and one after the experience.

The first helped uncover people’s previous experience of mobile guides, their expectations of what this guide might do, how it would function and what type of experience they desired.

The second survey uncovered people’s actual experience of using the guide in situ.

The outputs of the survey were both quantitative and qualitative. Through careful selection and segmentation of 100 + users we were able to compare the expectations and actual experiences across a range of demographics – age, individuals and family groups, familiarity with technology.