For generations, the Kiwi and Aussie dream was simple – your own slice of heaven, your castle, a reliable car in the driveway, certainty in retirement. Ownership wasn’t just a financial goal. It was an emotional foundation for a meaningful life. Security, stability and control – you were set.

For brands designing customer experience, ownership has historically provided certainty, agency and emotional security.

But that dream is being rewritten. More of what we own and aspire to own is becoming out of reach. This shift from ownership to access is reshaping customer expectations across housing, transport, technology and work.

In Australia and New Zealand, this shift is being accelerated by housing affordability pressures, subscription economies and changing work patterns which means ownership is no longer a given. Many people rent their homes, subscribe to transport, lease their tech, and shift jobs more often than ever. They don’t hold the keys. But they still need to feel safe.

Ownership once acted as an emotional safety net. But, as that disappears, customer experience has to do the work instead. ‍

Ownership creates certainty and emotional security

In an ownership paradigm, when things go wrong, the path is clear. You own the house; you control how and when repairs happen. Those experiences weren’t low stress, but the process was predictable. Ownership gives people certainty, and agency. You know where responsibility sits. This clarity of responsibility is a core reason ownership has historically built trust.

In today’s distributed, access-based models, that clarity evaporates. You’re using something you don’t own. Responsibility feels scattered, control feels missing. That sense of security and certainty fades.

Ownership has always been emotional as well as economic.

The safety ownership provides for customers

Ownership wasn’t just about utility; it was about certainty. A house meant permanence, privacy, and autonomy.  A car meant independence and predictability.  

That emotional stability helped customers feel in charge of their world. TRA’s Ownership research shows ownership is becoming more digital, conditional, and intangible, with access replacing permanence across many categories. And while for many they don’t have a choice, some actively chose this approach because it facilitates a better experience.

Customer experience (CX) often focuses on friction, ease and efficiency. In access-based models, great CX doesn’t just remove friction. It reassures people that the system will hold when they need it. It’s designing for certainty, not efficiency.  

Pillars of designing for certainty in access-based customer experience

– Clear expectations – no surprises: When people don’t own the asset, uncertainty increases around costs, terms, rules, and what happens if something goes wrong. People need to know what their money and time is getting them so they can form and expectation and make an informed decision. Remove fine print and hidden conditions. Use progressive disclosure, show what matters when it matters, in context.

– Visible system status – it works when they need it: We’ve all experienced moments where a service isn’t available when we need it most, a point where access without certainty quickly breaks trust. Whether it’s a car share, an app, or a rental product, it must be available and perform flawlessly. Availability is the new reliability. Failures feel riskier when people don’t have backups or control. They reinforce people’s concerns. Design for availability awareness. Show status, maintenance, and readiness clearly. Show what’s available, nearby, and usable in real time. Offer waitlist options or alternatives proactively.

– Predictable support – protect the person: When something goes wrong and you don’t own the product, you’re vulnerable. You’re at the mercy of the system. Make support easy to access and always explain next steps. Where possible, pre-empt the issue before the customer reaches out. Predictable support restores a sense of control when ownership is absent.

– Fair and human responses: People are more vulnerable when ownership doesn’t exist. When things go wrong, people feel helpless and distrustful.  People want to feel heard, helped, and humanised when something fails. Human responses matter more in access-based models because customers have fewer fallback options.

Customers take a risk when they trust your system. They put in effort that ownership once spared them. Help them make progress (link to Progress report) by building in friction-reducing elements: pre-filled forms, tutorials, soft landings and celebrate small milestones (“Thanks for trying this”, “You’re on your way”, “Here’s what people love about this option”). These moments of progress help rebuild confidence when ownership no longer exists.

As ownership declines, brands that design for certainty will outperform those that optimise only for efficiency. CX plays an important role in helping to fill the emotive benefits ownership once provided. You don’t need to give people the keys. You just need to make sure they never feel locked out.

This tension between access and security is explored further in our Out of Reach research, and in ME WE ALL, where we examine how brands can design experiences that work for individuals, systems and society at the same time.

If you’re grappling with how to build trust, certainty and reassurance in access-based models, we’d love to talk.

‍Get in touch to explore how TRA can help you design experiences that hold when ownership no longer exists.

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