A five stage journey model: Entice → Enter → Engage → Exit → Extend. Designed to reveal where experience breaks and how memory is shaped.
Why This Matters
Even the great products or services could fail because users get lost somewhere along the way.
A product can attract attention, yet lose people at the first click. A service can work well at the core, yet create frustration at the end. Teams often see the outcome, but not the moment where the experience breaks.
The 5E Experience Model can help here. It helps us slow down, observe the entire customer journey, and understand how users move from first contact to long-term engagement.
What is the 5E Experience Model?
The 5E model divides the user journey into five sequential stages:
- Entice: The trigger that captures attention.
- Enter: The first steps of interaction.
- Engage: The core usability and experience.
- Exit: How the experience concludes.
- Extend: Post-interaction follow-up.
These stages describe how a user discovers a brand, interacts with a product, completes a task, and decides whether to return.
It is a practical tool for design thinking and product development teams that want a clear view of the customer journey.
Core Concepts of the 5E Framework
Entice
This stage captures the spark that draws users in. A message, a friend’s recommendation, a visual cue, or a moment of need can trigger attention.
Entice sets expectations, and expectations shape the user’s judgment of the entire journey.
Enter
Enter marks the user’s first real step. It might be opening the homepage, walking into a store, or downloading an app.
A clean and simple entry reduces anxiety and builds confidence. A cluttered or confusing start creates early friction.
Engage
Engage is the core of the user experience. This is where users complete tasks, explore functions, and form opinions, and interact with the product, complete key tasks, and judge whether the experience feels smooth or frustrating.
Teams should design a highlight: a surprisingly smooth flow, a meaningful insight, or an enjoyable interaction. According to the Peak-End Rule, a single high-value moment here can significantly influence overall satisfaction.
Exit
Exit defines how the experience concludes. Even when the core journey works well, a poor ending can leave a negative impression.
The Peak End Rule makes the Exit stage extremely important. A clear summary, a simple confirmation, or a supportive message can turn a neutral experience into a positive one. Endings shape memory.
Extend
Extend looks beyond the session. It asks how the brand follows up and how the relationship continues. This may include after service support, community engagement, or well timed reminders.
Extend reinforces the peak and the ending, making the entire user experience more memorable and more valuable.
How the Peak End Rule Strengthens the 5E Model
The Peak End Rule explains why people do not average their experiences. They remember the most intense moment and the final moment. When applied to the 5E Experience Model:
Entice and Enter set the stage, but Engage and Exit define the memory.
This helps teams prioritize better. It encourages them to design intentional highlights in Engage and craft thoughtful endings in Exit.
When Extend builds on these two moments, the journey becomes coherent and memorable.
Benefits of Using This Model
The 5E Experience Model removes guesswork from the customer journey. It helps teams see where attention is won, where friction happens, and where memory is formed. It combines structure with psychology, making it practical for product development and user experience design.
Implementation Scenarios
The model works across many design thinking and customer journey settings, use it when:
- onboarding flows
- retail and service design
- product tutorials
- marketing journey analysis
- customer support interactions
- UX research and usability testing
It is also useful when diagnosing a drop in engagement or redesigning an experience that feels inconsistent.
Takeaways
The 5E Experience Model shows the path users walk. The Peak End Rule shows what they remember. When these two ideas work together, teams can design experiences that feel simple, intentional, and emotionally engaging.
Create a strong peak. End the journey well. Then extend the connection. That is how products earn loyalty and shape lasting user experience.
