who interact most with customers, frontliners could be empowered to embrace the change— particularly as digital transactions increase and customers look for more meaningful human interactions. Disney, for example, is well known for consistently delighting people of all ages and under varying circumstances. It instills in guests a sense of joy and surprise through personalized encounters with Disney characters. What guests perceive as random and unexpected experiences of delight are, in fact, carefully choreographed by Disney. 4 Take what is known as their “water art,” where they create magic while cleaning: this is a special kind of experience devised by the custodial team in which an employee, using just a broom and a bucket of water, draws favorite Disney and Pixar characters on the ground. Disney further embeds capabilities in its frontline staff for meaningful recovery during difficult moments. Deliver personalized delight micro- interventions through data and AI Companies can develop their own delight repositories—with major- as well as micro- 4 Lauren A. Newell, “Happiness at the house of the mouse: How Disney negotiates to create ‘the happiest place on earth,’” SSRN, July 1, 2012. interventions—that can be tapped into when needed to trigger the appropriate intervention at the correct moment for a specific individual. As we have shared previously in our Experience DNA article, the future of customer experience is holistic, predictive, and proactive, and this applies to delight, too. We believe that customer insights, in the age of big data, are a key reason why delight no longer needs to be an expensive proposition. In fact, data can be used to hyperpersonalize and prioritize delight-inducing micro-interventions for each customer, and can be delivered in a way that is sustainable, maximizing immediate ROI and customer lifetime value. After years of considering customer delight to be an expensive option, companies now have a real opportunity to reconsider and unlock its benefits, while being prudent and effective. No longer do they need to have customers who are solely satisfied—once delighted, their customers could be motivated to return, refer, and add value. Copyright © 2024 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved. Ankit Bisht is a partner in McKinsey’s Dubai office, where Sangeeth Ram is a senior partner and Kashiff Munawar is an associate partner; Andreas Giese is an associate partner in the Riyadh office. The authors wish to thank Divya Mittagunta, Harald Fanderl, and Jochen Binder for their contributions to this article. 8 Fueling growth through moments of customer delight