Towards Explainable and Sustainable Wow Experiences with Technology

Interacting with technology can evoke various positive and negative reactions in users. An outstandingly positive user experience enabled by interactive technology is often referred to as a “wow experience” in design practice and research. Such experiences are considered to be emotional, memorable, and highly desirable. Surprisingly, wow experiences have not received much attention in design research. In this study, we try to gain a more in-depth understanding of how wow experiences are caused. Through an exploratory factor analysis, we identify six factors contributing to wow experiences with interactive technology: Hygiene, goal attainment, uniqueness, relevance, emotional fingerprint, and inspiration. We propose an integrated model of wow experience and a prototype questionnaire to measure wow experiences with interactive products based on the identified factors.