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Focus on the high-expectation customer

uxdesign.cc

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Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#51

Post by GrinningFool »

barking wrote: post #18
gatestone wrote: post #13

I have high expectations for free apps/services: They need to work immediately without a learning curve. See "hallway testing". They need to be competent but only modestly useful, if better alternatives are not available. I have different high expectations for something I pay for. They need to be marketed to me, proving to me that they solve my real life problems competently. They can have a reasonable learning curve…

You could reject some very good free apps then. But I kinda agree with you. It's partly the phenomenon of attaching little value to something one gets for cheap/free. And conversely, people can bend over backwards to be impressed by something they pay a lot of money for.

I think the difference is that if it's a free app[1], the developer wants me to use it and I need to be convinced that it's worth my time.

If it's a paid app, I've already decided that it's worth money. If the app offers enough value for me to pay, then it offers enough value for me to learn what I need to learn.

[1] excluding open source - sure they want me to use it, but that's more like "here it is, use it if you want it". My expectations there are very different, particularly since I can often change things if it doesn't quite do what I want.

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#52

Post by arvidkahl »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #42
arvidkahl wrote: post #23

It's also important to note that the high-expectation customer is not the high-frequency complainer that you will have in your customer base. Don't confuse the two, they are opposites. In my experience with my own company, there were customers who would reach out very often with ideas, complaints, and questions. I learned at some point that these customers often were just confused did not even really understand their…

> these customers often were just confused did not even really understand their own problems When you make software that helps people earn money, you’re competing with driving for Uber and Facebook ads, not just other business services. A less confusing way to make money is actually a huge innovation.

This is a very interesting insight.

If your product can both provide a great service AND educate you about how this service can be amplified by choosing the correct job to use it with, then you have a great service.

For me, customer education is a very big part of value nurturing. In my customer service conversations, I have often had the opportunity to directly talk to people who had yet to hear about major technical improvements that most of us here reading HN take for granted, things like clipboard history managers, text expansion tools or shareable screenshot / screencast tools. Providing insights directly to customers has been very interesting.

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#53

Post by arvidkahl »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #34
rogual wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I noticed about the high-frequency complainers among my customers is that almost all of them got the product for free.

You have to gaurd yourself against cheap customers. They will squeeze you for everything they can get. This is not the same as customers that are low paying.

It seems to be statistically correlated, at least from my experience. We used to have a really cheap plan, now grandfathered in with just a handful of users, and those are - to this day - the most vocal group of complainers.

I believe that for some reason, a low price creates more entitlement than a higher price. I have yet to comprehend the psychology behind this, but customers paying up to three times as much complain far less often.

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#54

Post by arvidkahl »

balfirevic wrote: post #43
phkahler wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say "high performance customer". The one that is going to push your product to its limits, trying to make it do more than you thought it could. Those limits are where you need to add features so people don't have to hack around the limitations.

So, "power customer" (analogous to power user)?

I would invoke the "skin in the game" metaphor. Listen to customers who have a vested interest, for their own reasons (brand building, networking, the "expert" part) as well as for optimizing some part of their professional workflow, making your service a catalyst of their moneymaking abilities (the benefitter part). The hacker part to me is mostly a consequence of frustration or necessity, and that is different for every industry.

If a publicly outspoken professional uses your software, engage them. That has been very helpful for our company every single time. It resulted in great publicity, brand building and in almost all cases meaningful insight into the what and why of their actual business problems.

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#55

Post by brokenmachine »

lunias wrote: post #50
nnq wrote: post #7

Hallelujah! Maybe this will put a dent in the current dumbification trend of all apps/UIs etc. that's probably due to 'designing for the lowest common denominator'. Hint: any app/tool/etc. that's "designed for the average user", will only help its user be(come) average and below average! Now try imagining selling a product with the slogan "XYZ - Helping you stay mediocre, and even drop below the average! Use us every…

I hope so! I've had so many software enhancements written off by product owners because the features were, "targeted at power users". It gets tiring explaining that while we might not have any power users before the app is released (besides devs); we certainly will if our app meets with any definition of success. That being said, I once put my high-expectations into hasty action and found out that my expectations and…

They'd seriously never seen a computer keyboard?

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#56

Post by [deleted] »

high_5 wrote: post #47
ako wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn’t market it as mediocre, but data will correctly show most customers are best served by mediocre products: most people need a mediocre car, not one that drives 300kmh, drives well off-road, or can carry 10m3 of stuff. Similarly, mediocre furniture (ikea), electronics or most anything else is good enough.

Yet, there's Apple that is the exception to this rule

[deleted]

Re: Focus on the high-expectation customer

#57

Post by lunias »

brokenmachine wrote: post #55
lunias wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope so! I've had so many software enhancements written off by product owners because the features were, "targeted at power users". It gets tiring explaining that while we might not have any power users before the app is released (besides devs); we certainly will if our app meets with any definition of success. That being said, I once put my high-expectations into hasty action and found out that my expectations and…

They'd seriously never seen a computer keyboard?

I guess... I'm sure they'd seen a keyboard, but likely never studied it. Lots of flip phones and people that used a computer once at the library. Seemed impossible in 2011.
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