It is almost never the thing you spent the most money on. Here is what sticks, and how to design for it.
People do not remember your process. They remember the moment someone noticed them.
I have sat in on hundreds of customer conversations, and the story is almost always the same. Nobody recalls the new signage or the redesigned menu. They recall the person who remembered their name, the manager who fixed the problem without making them beg, the follow up call that came when it was no longer required.
Design for the three moments
There are three moments worth obsessing over: the first thirty seconds, the moment something goes wrong, and the goodbye. Get those three right and the rest of the experience has room to be ordinary.
Start with one
Pick the moment you are weakest in and build it with your team, not for them. Ask the people doing the work what gets in the way. They already know.
Building with people. Not for them.