Let’s go back in time a bit – back in time to those carefree days of yore, when tech companies piled new feature after new feature into each consecutive release of their flagship products… When each new release promoted a new shopping list of goodies to entice eager buyers to upgrade.
Remember all that? Because those days are long gone. Dead, and buried. The new rules of engagement? Not more features, but better features. Improvements, enhancements, and usability. Now the experience the technology provides – how it does something, not what it can do – has come into fast focus. Why? Because companies who focus on user needs and providing the most affective experience are thriving, and companies that are stuck with “featuritis” are barely keeping up.
My job is in the domain and discipline of user experience design – which consists of creating meaningful and useful solutions that make sense for our users. It is a focus that is becoming more and more important in our new user-centered reality. Here’s some recommendations on how to leverage technology to support your customer, in this new “features as commodity” age.
Focus on how users use technology, not the technology itself.
We recently did a mobile research study, to understand how people use their mobile devices – and a key indicator we focused on was the engagement and involvement people had with the mobile technology. Learning how they think of the devices, and the usage patterns and mental models we defined, allowed us to better understand what users need to define the right offerings.
Understand how people leverage technology to make their lives better, and you will find key opportunities to engage with your customers in places and spaces you may have never considered before.
Features are important, but how they are implemented is even more important.
As mentioned earlier, now the programs are designed for users, and not by engineers or project managers trying to one-up the competition. Now, the software is appropriate, appealing and most importantly USEFUL.
Two examples, both from Microsoft. Recently, Microsoft released the beta of their Microsoft Office 2010 suite, and the design enhancements are plentiful and incredible. They have designed a new File “menu” that groups like functions in a way that brings a gasp to users who are accustomed to the old awkward UI that was available – it provides context-driven options that are based on the specific Office program you are using, integrated and consistent across programs.
The second example? Microsoft’s recently announce the newest Windows mobile operating system (named “Windows Phone 7”). The new UI is a dramatic departure from the standard phone interface, in that the UI is driven by data and not applications – contextual options display about your calendar mail and contacts, instead of having applications be the center of the interaction model. It’s unique, it’s user-centered and, frankly… it’s bold. It’s impressive.
So, when even the king of “featuritis” Microsoft starts to focus on experience design… well, the tide has turned. It’s the how, not the what, that now matters.
What do your customer think about technology? Or do they think about it at all?
Your customers are not, for the most part, techies. They are surrounded by technology almost every minute of the day, but they don’t think about it. They know what they like, and like what they know. If new technology enters their life it does so organically, and they only adopt the new if it is obvious, unthreatening and kind. Yes, I said KIND. We need to bring a tone and an approach to our service offerings that are humanistic in nature, not just technically impressive.
Understand that technology is a tool, not an end to itself. if you are focused on technology in your job, keep this in mind… And that you may be in a tech “bubble” and that the way you think of this space is not the way most people do.
Empower users with technology, don’t hobble them.
Every touchpoint with your customers is either supported or enabled by technology. Whether it’s a customer calling your support line or a user of your online site, technology is the mechanism that allows the communication to happen. Make sure that the experience is one that supports your customers and doesn’t frustrate them. In the days of immediate customer feedback loops, through social media, the more you empower your customers the more they will like your company and it’s offerings… And the more they will recommend them to their friends and family.