Relentless Customer Experience Filter
Test every initiative against one customer-centered purpose
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Rubin describes turning Fanatics' brand purpose into an operating filter: every proposed action must relentlessly enhance the fan experience. Teams ask that question before proceeding, reject work when the answer is no, and revisit earlier choices through the same lens. The mechanism replaces vague mission language with a repeatable decision rule that can align several businesses. Customer criticism supplies evidence when the company has missed the mark. Rubin uses the baseball uniform backlash as an example: the partners listened and agreed to return to what fans preferred. He also applies the purpose to product design in betting, where rewards and injury-related bet cancellations are intended to make the experience feel more rewarding and fair. The framework therefore connects purpose, customer feedback, portfolio decisions, and corrective action.
Origin
Rubin says Fanatics crystallized this purpose after backlash over changed baseball uniforms. He wished the company had used it from the beginning in 2011. Extracted from Aspire with Emma Grede.
Core principles
- 01A purpose should guide decisions, not decorate presentations
- 02Customer impact matters more than competitive anxiety
- 03Past decisions should be retested when the purpose becomes clear
- 04Customer criticism can reveal where the experience has drifted
How to run it
- 1
Define the customer outcome
Write one clear purpose describing how the company should improve life for its customer. Fanatics chose relentlessly enhancing the fan experience.
- 2
Test each initiative
Ask whether the initiative advances the stated customer outcome. Do not proceed when the answer is no.
- 3
Listen for experience failures
Treat concentrated customer criticism as evidence that a decision may have violated the purpose. Identify the specific experience customers want restored or improved.
- 4
Correct the miss
Reverse or redesign decisions that failed the test. Coordinate with partners when the customer experience spans company boundaries.
- 5
Retest the portfolio
Review previous practices and current products against the same purpose. Keep asking how each one can serve the customer better.
In the wild
Rubin says Fanatics, Nike, and Major League Baseball faced criticism after changing baseball uniforms. He says the partners listened and agreed to revert to what fans had preferred. The experience helped Fanatics articulate a purpose that could test future decisions against fan benefit.
→ The partners committed to restoring the earlier design and Fanatics gained a clearer operating filter.
Rubin says Fanatics Betting and Gaming gives customers rewards on bets and cancels a bet when a selected player is injured in the first quarter. He presents these policies as applications of the company's fan-experience purpose.
→ Fanatics positioned its sportsbook around rewards and perceived fairness.
Common mistakes
Treating purpose as consultant language
A purpose has little value if it remains abstract. Convert it into a question that accepts or rejects work.
Watching competitors instead of customers
Rubin says Fanatics spent too much of its first decade worrying about competition and too little time asking how to improve the fan experience.
Ignoring negative customer evidence
Defending an unpopular change blocks correction. Listen, identify the miss, and reverse or redesign it.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for consumer businesses that need a shared decision rule across products and teams.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the company has not yet identified a specific customer or cannot observe customer response.
From the episode
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession
The Founder Playbook