When you shouldn’t listen to your users
Expert users are always the most vociferous and opinionated.
But they aren’t typical users and their judgement is often skewed. They don’t experience the problems that typical users have. And they want features that typical users don’t care about.
Expert users love complex featuresHowever, it’s sometimes hard to convince stakeholders (who are experts) that their best customers (who are experts) are not the ones that they should listen to.
Here what Slashdot (a blog run by expert users) had to say when the iPod was announced: “No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.”
The tech-heads continue: “I don’t see many sales in the future of iPod.” “All I can say is, as an Apple ‘fan’, I’m sad.”
Another blog by experts, MacRumors, also wanted more “I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player?”
Apple’s best, expert customers wanted a flying car. Apple’s typical customers wanted an MP3 player that just worked.
We see this a lot. Experts make noisy demands for new features that over-complicate things for typical users. But sticking to the basics and only adding features when typical customers are ready for them has its rewards.
As of January 2010, Apple had sold 240,000,000 iPods and no flying cars.
Sometimes your best customers aren’t the ones you should be listening to.
About the author
Giles has been making products more usable for over fifteen years. He was President of the UK Usability Professionals’ Association from 2003-2007 and speaks frequently on usability in the UK and overseas. He writes on usability for Revolution magazine and was one of the editors of the PAS 78 accessibility guide from the British Standards Institute. Email Giles, or call +44 (0)117 946 3930
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A very good point – very well made, thanks.
I found this rather amusing. Its makes a valid point on how apple can market there product that already existed but market it under the apple name and…BOOM you get you 240,000,000 in sales
Hi kushyy. There are some nice examples of the value sticking to the basics in consumer products from Google, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony over the years. (I don’t want to get into a debate about Apple – religious wars are always protracted, bloody and inconclusive.)
A good post with solid advice.
“But sticking to the basics and only adding features when typical customers are ready for them has its rewards.”
Hard to execute. The above statement seems to disregard the product lifecycle adoption curve of users. Often what makes typical customers ready for new features isn’t that the features are on some kind of scale of difficultly, but their exposure to them over time.
Thanks – glad you liked it.
That’s a great comment – I think there’s a lot to unpack in your reply. Rather than answer at length I’ll make a short observation:
Not all ‘typical users’ become ‘expert users’. Most achieve a moderate level of competence and stay there. Even after years of using Excel, most people don’t know how to use pivot tables. And most learner drivers don’t go on to become racing drivers. So repeated exposure doesn’t necessarily make people ready for expert features or turn them into expert performers.
Instead, if you want to keep it simple, you’ve got to select features that don’t disrupt the core experience. And if you want to create experts, you’ve got to create motivation.
Thanks for opening an interesting line of discussion.
Truly a great point Giles! I’ve seen the same comments made by “industry experts” about the iPad. Just because something may be a technologically advanced piece of hardware doesn’t necessarily mean it is for technologically advanced users.
Yes – it’s a pattern that’s repeated in every industry. I think you can find examples wherever there’s an expert audience – in cars, cameras, bikes, electronics, you name it.
Well written and so true.
I’ve witnessed expert users wreck a new social networking app as they were naturally the first to feedback on a beta. The client wanted to react to every single point in an effort to be helpful.
10000 people wear a blue uniform and they like their uniform just fine. One of the 10000 asks management if they can wear red the next day and management change the uniform for everyone.
There’s a lot to be said for the silent majority.
This is exactly why I’ve been holding my tongue when it comes to the iPad. It’s not made for me and I understand that.
Hi Scott. We at cxpartners agree. We’re buying them for our wives and kids instead :)
The concept of ‘Lead Users’ is still of incredible value, and this advice is kind of obvious. What would really be helpful is how to tell the difference between a feature request that addresses a need of an ‘expert’ vs ‘typical user’. Not as easy as just saying ‘don’t listen to your users’…