Steve Neiderhauser

How to delight customers

Kathy Sierra writes an illuminating piece about how unexpected surprises produce feelings of delight. Even the subtle out-of-context surprise can trigger some neurons and brain chemistry. A reference to a movie slipped into the dialog of... another movie.

(Watching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial this weekend, I noticed E.T. chanced upon The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. In a delightful scene, E.T. watches Wayne kiss O'Hare; in turn, E.T.'s feelings are transferred to Elliott who kisses the school girl with a crush on him.)

Kathy provides a variety of examples where companies create delight through unexpected context. In conclusion, within the context of the article, Kathy supplies the tips to create out-of-context user delights.

Human factors and design

I've worked at companies where designers were scared to show a prototype to customers... because the customer might cling to features that made no sense. These so called designers felt they'd be compelled to include the customer's suggestion. Not that they loved design less, but they loved political correctness more.

If only the designers had an ounce of intuition, common sense or courage, perhaps they would've built a product that captured the market's imagination. Guess what quality the designers of Motorola's RAZR had? The courage to create.

Through story, Michael's Product Management blog, describes how the RAZR team ignored market research and created the RAZR.

Differentiation through Product Management

I spend a couple hours today, reviewing handouts from an SMU Marketing seminar. In one article, Marketing success through differentiation -- of anything, author Theodore Levitt says there is no such thing as a commodity:

The customer never just buys the generic product like steel, or wheat... He buys something that transcends these designations -- and what the "something" is helps determine from whom he'll buy, what he'll pay...

That "something" may be a delivery time or the way your staff deals with the customer. In fact, the generic product is table stakes -- the minimum needed to enter the game. Just as a poker player distinguishes himself by his play, so will a company distinguish itself by the way it differentiates its products.

Levitt provides an example of how one investment bank packages it services: An investment bank provides an exclusive entrance with special stationary. The implicit assumption? VIP treatment of certain visitors will persuade them of VIP results. What's more, Levitt writes that alert, imaginative product managers can make a difference -- ambidextrous product management becomes a point of differentiation.

Several months ago, I worked with a company that developed custom software. Part of the process included a review of a design document with customers who had little technical knowledge. And yet, during the review, the software company included UML diagrams and other technical trivia. By now, you can imagine the long silences and glazed looks from customers who endured these water torture reviews.

This customer experience augmented the product in a negative fashion. All things being equal the customers would have preferred to skip the ritual of a text-based review with all the technical trimmings. Indeed, customers asked this company why they were not using prototypes. Instead of anticipating customer needs and creating positive experiences, these employees were either tied to tradition or more interested in their own experiences.

That's why hiring an innovative product manager is a key decision. Because differentiating your product may start with someone who can audit customer experiences and create tangible and intangible features that delight your customers.

tags: Product Management

Enter stage left

Ever wonder why you like one character in a movie more than another. Wonder no longer. Jennifer Van Sijll lifts the curtain and exposes the wizardry in this TV interview.

From Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, Jennifer shows that the "good guy" enters screen left, while the "bad guy" enters from the right. Because westerners read from left to right, we feel comfortable watching the hero walk from left to right, and we transfer these good feelings to the hero. On the other hand, watching the "bad guy" walk from right to left creates an uneasy feeling; we associate this discomfort with the wrong-way character.

Other applications of this technique? When giving a presentation, employ a deft touch by entering the stage from the left. And for video games -- have the heroine enter from screen left.