Build a useful product in four steps

With the amount of noise and hoards of information consumers take in everyday, it's quite a challenge to stand out and get noticed, especially in consumer markets. No amount of loud marketing or jazzy advertising will give you the reach unless your product adds some value in the life of a consumer.

Flipkart advertisements are cute but if the state of their customer service, delivery processes,  inventory and their shopping interface aren't what they are today, the ads wouldn't have much of an impact. In consumer behavior terminology, we call this as "attitude towards the ad" which inturn triggers the "attitude towards the brand". We might like the ad but the brand/product wouldn't gain much from the ad.

I would keep referring to this book again because it's one of my favorites. Marty Cagan talks about three important attributes of a product in his book "Inspired" - valuable, usable and feasible. Usefulness of a product is a factor of value and usability.

Valuable - the product adds value by solving a consumers' problem in a novel way or a better way than the available solutions and so the consumer is willing to pay a price for such value.
Usable - the consumer might find value but unless if the product/solution can be easily comprehended and understood, he might not be willing to invest his resources further - time, money or effort.

How to increase the usefulness of your product?

I would like to suggest four steps by which the usefulness of a product can be increased.

1. Focus on the "one" thing that the product is expected to perform remarkably

Recently, I started using "Workflowy", a list management application to track my to-dos/tasks. It's a simple and intuitive product that completely focuses on tracking tasks in a flow structure, similar to bullet points in a Word document.   The tasks could just be a single liner next action item (a GTD concept) or a project that involves multiple levels of subtasks. The product is so simple that it looks like an empty Word document. 

This product conveys a powerful message - Do the one thing that the user expects the product to do extremely well. Ignore the "bells and whistles".

2. Involve customers early in the product conceptualization stage

I firmly believe that any idea has to be validated with the market by talking to potential customers before taking the shape of a product. No amount of secondary research, prior domain knowledge/experience or just gut instinct will help unless you hear directly from customers. Elicit more details from customers on the specific problems you want to solve through your idea. Observe the body language, the environment where he lives, works and where he will be using your product.

I had the opportunity of going for a customer visit for a product that was in the initial conceptualization stage. Along with a business development manager, we went to different regions of New Delhi and interacted with varied groups of potential customers for a couple of days. It was a truly insightful experience, as a product manager. We were able to have casual conversations over tea, observe their work environment, take a look at their PCs and get a demo of the existing systems they use. These personal connections also come in handy while you want to get pilot customers' feedback before launching the product to the market.

A deep insight that came out during this visit was that we might develop a cutting edge product that performs brilliantly in high performance desktops and mobile but is that what customers actually use on a daily basis is something to think about. They might still be hanging onto Windows XP and Internet Explorer while the world has gone too far. Such kind of customer interactions help to unravel the ground realities.

3. Reduce feature clutter

More features doesn't translate to improved usefulness of a product. It might have a negative impact to the consumer, similar to the diminishing marginal utility concept in Economics.

We purchased a Bathla cloth dryer stand for our home a year ago. Our requirement was a bigger stand and the flexibility to move it around (wheels). The product met these requirements and so we found it to be of value while purchasing it. However for the sake of adding more features, the manufacturers have designed a complex product.

Two features that are unique in this product but totally unusable are
Adjustable hanging rods - It's quite difficult to move the rods and adjust the position. The designer of this product hasn't given a thought of where this product is going to be actually kept and used - which would be the balcony, terrace or garden. Dust accumulates near the edges, causing friction while moving the rods. As a result, the adjustability feature causes more irritation and I wish it was a normal, fixed set of rods
Socks holder - there is no way one can pin socks to the grooves provided. These grooves cannot be clipped together for them to hold socks tightly in their place.

A few years back, I was assigned the work of evaluating cloud based CRM products for my organization's sales team. One of those products was Zoho CRM, a complete CRM solution that covers lead pipeline, tracking your existing customers, exporting/importing contacts, issues tracker, dashboards etc. It was a feature-exhaustive product that satisfied most of CRM requirements. However, we found that the actual users i.e. the sales team members found the product to be extremely complex and unmanageable. When we enquired about the training costs, the quote was very high for a 2-3 day training program. Though we went ahead with the product, I'm not sure of its actual usage now.

In summary, more is not merrier.

While thinking of a new feature to be added to your product, think of these questions:

1. Does it contribute to the core value of your product?
2. Does it give you a competitive edge or competitive parity?
3. Will this add more complexity to the existing feature set, from the point of view of the user/customer? (I'm not referring to the technology/architecture related complexity here)

4. Simplify the design

One of the ten principles of good design as given by Dieter Rams is that a good design makes a product useful. Design processes and principles should strive to keep the product as simple as possible.  The first three steps if taken care of will help this step immensely.

Simple products always win the race when it comes to usefulness. Coincidentally, as I was writing this article, I came across this tweet from @vijayanands

No Problem is "solved", till its a case of last man standing. Till then, everyone has a chance to play. Remember Dropbox?
— Vijay Anand (@vijayanands) May 8, 2013

Dropbox solves a simple problem of sharing content across multiple devices and with multiple people. There were many solutions available earlier. I was using Yahoo! briefcase for a while and then tried Google docs before switching to Dropbox. The idea of creating a simple folder which is quite similar to other folders on our PC and syncing the contents automatically, without any manual intervention makes Dropbox an intuitive product. There is not much of a learning curve for any user and that's the beauty of it.

One of the underlying concepts of interaction design that I came across recently was that an interface need to behave like "magic".

"best interaction designs don’t exist: they don’t take a long time to load/respond; they don’t make users think; and they don’t give users cause for grief."

Do share your views on these 4 steps in building a useful product. I would also love to hear other relevant examples.

Collaborative solution seeking

Problem Statement

A business problem doesn't have a right or a wrong answer. The solution depends on various factors - context, environment, dependencies, principles/ethics, goals/objectives, available skills and many more. Solving a business problem requires a collaborative effort within the organization. Often at times, because of past mindsets, conditional thinking and groupthink, business managers might not be able to visualize solutions from different perspectives.

A third person's view point or a casual chat with an ex-colleague or a friend might open up new avenues of thinking and expand our scope. Sometimes, while attending a seminar or a discussion forum, new ideas might spark which could have a great impact at our workplace. Such is the importance of interacting with people from different backgrounds - be it education, work experience, thought processes or even ideology.

In the current scenario, if we want to seek answers to certain business problems outside the organization, the following are the options that we most frequently use. Please feel free to comment if there are any other options that you choose to reach out.

• post a tweet on twitter
• start a discussion in a relevant Linkedin forum
• ask a question on quora
• call your friends/ex-colleagues/acquaintances

These mediums are great platforms to get various perspectives across the globe, for your business problem. But I see a fundamental missing piece - interactions that enable collaborative solution seeking in a group.

If I have a query on a technology/programming language, a simple google search or posting/searching on quora/stackoverflow will give me an answer immediately. In case of business problems, one might have to understand/analyze the situation and suggest a possible solution. Such kind of interactions will be elevating and inspiring only if they happen in person or through a collaborative medium like a chat forum.

Solution

This is the idea I'm proposing. What if there is an interactive video chat platform where people in the business world can enroll, describe a problem situation and ask for a virtual meeting to discuss and gather solutions collaboratively with other interested business folks?

Users

• Anyone in the business side of things - business development manager, product manager, marketing manager, business analyst, CXO, VPs etc
• B-School students
• Techies interested in business

Process

• Users register themselves and add their areas of interest - digital marketing, valuation, cost accounting, product strategy, design etc
• Any user can post a problem statement and tag with the appropriate area of interest. Let's call this user as "Conversation Starter"
• All users who are matched to that area of interest get a notification about the problem statement
• A possible discussion time is scheduled 
• Some of those users can volunteer and prepare ahead - jot down some notes, quick data analysis, a powerpoint presentation, useful links/articles to share or just participate, thinking aloud during the discussion. Let's call such users as "Conversation enablers"
• Other users might just be interested in the problem but do not have much to contribute. The discussion will be a useful session to enrich their knowledge. Let's call such users as "Conversation listeners"
• During the discussion, 
• the "Conversation Starter" summarizes the problem
• Every "Conversation enabler" gets a chance to bring forth their views and ideas

End Result 

This would be a collective virtual brainstorming session that happens outside the workplace and with people who are ready to share their views. It's a win-win situation for all parties - 

• "Conversation Starter" gets different perspectives to solve his/her business problem
• "Conversation enabler" gets to ideate and think through varied set of problems in his/her areas of interest and build their expertise
• "Conversation listener" gets to learn something new through such discussions

Next steps

I'm sure there are lots to think through regarding this solution. Most importantly,

• incentives for the enablers (it's like consulting with no pay)
• privacy concerns (why would I share my company problems with others?)

Let's leave the "what-ifs" and "oh-but" for now. My questions to all those kind souls who have read so far

• Do you see value in such a product?
• If you are in the business side of things, would you be interested to participate?

Please share your thoughts as blog comments as it would be easy for us to track and discuss further.

Role of emotions in product success

Marty Cagan in his book "Inspired: How to create products Customers love" talks about the characteristics of inspiring and successful products. Apart from the popular ones such as usability and visual appeal, one specific characteristic that struck me is the importance he has given towards human emotions and the role they play in creating a winning product.

Being a key enthusiast of marketing strategies driven based on consumer behavioral aspects, it felt like a "aha!" moment while I was reading the chapters on the role of emotion in products.

Marty says, "People buy and use products largely for emotional reasons".

It could be a positive emotion that is triggered by the product or a negative emotion that has been wiped off by the product. For example,

• Facebook users might feel friendship, love and pride by being part of their social community and being in touch with their friends
• Anyone who had to make an urgent phone call might have felt irritated if he couldn't locate a PCO/STD booth nearby. A mobile phone has helped to ease off this negative feeling.

The potential consumers of a product can be segmented based on the different emotional needs that will be addressed through the product. For example, an online travel booking portal addresses different emotional needs such as annoyance, frustration, apprehension, trust, amazement etc. Each of these emotional needs are addressed by means of various benefits offered by the product.

A mapping of such emotions and the corresponding product benefits are listed below:
Annoyance - higher product performance, usable interface, seamless booking flow
Frustration - booking from the comfort of one's home, transparency in the display of travel options available
Apprehension - secure payments, quick processing of refunds
Trust - booking receipts, confirmation calls
Amazement - discounts/cashbacks, loyalty programs

While ideating on a product, we should list down those emotions which are to be addressed. Personas can be helpful in segmenting the different emotions of potential consumers.

As part of product definition and conceptualization, we should work towards identifying how these emotions will be addressed through user experience, interaction and visual design, customer support etc. Prototype testing can be used to check if test users were able to feel such emotions (both positive emotions being triggered and negative emotions being shunned) through the product.

As humans, we are in a constant state of oscillating emotions and moods throughout the day. The various products we use / depend upon can also be a source of trigger for such emotions (ask anyone who tried to book a Tatkal train ticket through IRCTC first thing in the morning and how their day went after that experience). So it is important that product managers should focus on identifying and addressing these emotional needs during product ideation and conceptualization process.

Perspectives on organization culture

I was going over the recently published HubSpot's culture deck a few days ago and was mighty impressed and inspired by it. Many points resonated with my thinking in terms of building and maintaining organization culture.

I always believed that vision/mission/values statements shouldn't just be something that a firm creates for the sake of it, with some jazzy words and jargon laden phrases, stuck on the walls of every conference room in the office premises. It has to mean something and represent in everything the firm does.

I highly recommend you to go over this deck. Some of the points which I noted down for my future reference:

"Solve for the customer, not just their happiness but also their success"

This statement is relevant not just for organization culture but also while envisioning a new product. Understanding customer's problems and creating a solution through your product is just not enough. We should take a step forward in empathizing with the customer and understanding how the solution can help him/her to succeed in his various walks of life.

 "Power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it"

Quite true. I have seen many people, especially veterans in software development teams who wouldn't want to share/disclose knowledge that they have gained over the years to a new software developer in the team. It could be an architecture overview, high level code walk through or simple tasks like setting up your development environment and build processes. Hoarding information doesn't make one superior or indispensable to the organization. Many man hours get spent when a new developer has to learn everything related to a product from scratch. If organizations incentivize senior developers/technical leads to share knowledge, it helps new developers to come on board faster and pushes the team to perform effectively.

 "We don't penalize the many, for the mistakes of the few"

This is exactly how I felt, when Marissa Mayer announced a ban on work-from-home policy for all Yahoo employees. There could be a few who might have misused work-from-home options to take care of their personal work and not even logged onto VPN. But there could be many who seriously had to be at home to attend to their sick child or elders in case of an emergency.

I agree that collaboration and interactions happen when teams are physically present in the office premises. But there could also be days when there are so many ad-hoc meetings and random discussions that prevent any focused attention needed for some tasks like research, coding a piece of complicated functionality, designing wireframes or writing product specs. Under such circumstances, I usually prefer to work from home the next day to get some quiet, peaceful time to make progress. A change in environment also helps if one is stuck with some issue or a nagging bug that needs to be fixed.

"Results matter, more than the hours we work"

"Results matter, more than where we produce them"

These two statement echo my hatred towards "clocking" certain hours everyday irrespective of whether you have work or not. Software development is not like a machine assembly line where work steadily keeps coming in from one side. Sitting in office just for the sake of getting through 8-9 hours is so unproductive. Most importantly, rewarding people who stay in office based on the number of hours they hang around is even more disastrous. Individual productivity should be measured based on the results they produce and the positive impact they have on the team and the organization.

One of the five attributes that HubSpot values in people is being humble. I'm glad that humility is still being valued in the world. This statement in the deck perfectly describes what humility actually means - "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less"

The other interesting points worth noting down are

"Don't hire to delegate, hire to elevate"

"We would rather be failing frequently, than never trying new things"

"Remarkable outcomes rarely result from modest risk"

"Simplicity is a competitive advantage"

"Influence is independent of hierarchy"

Trial in e-retail

In my earlier article on product trials, I briefly touched upon how product trials happen in the online world. This is something I'm really interested, especially in the case of e-retail and personal goods such as clothing, jewelry and perfumes.

Consumers would always choose to try out these personal items before they make a purchase. Apparel brands and retailers satisfy this expectation by providing trial rooms with full length mirrors in their retail outlets. Jewelers also help consumers to try out their varied designs before a purchase. In the case of perfumes, one actually experiences the fragrance and the feel when the customer care executive sprays the specific brand of perfume on your wrist.

Clearly, the different dimensions of experiential marketing come into play while we decide on these personal products in a physical store. Many e-retailers have been trying to recreate a similar experience while you shop online.

Appealing to the sense of sight, most of these e-commerce stores display the product offerings in bright and eye-catching pictures which make them look very appealing to consumers.

To experience the physical touch and feel of the product at your homes, many of them offer a try and return policy. Myntra and Jabong provide a 30 day return/exchange policy which help consumers to try out the offerings (clothes, shoes etc) at their homes and can exchange (if it is a size mismatch) or return the product.

Yebhi has recently launched the "Try-n-Buy" option where consumers can first try the product and if they like it, they can purchase it using cash-on-delivery. 

Their marketing efforts are focused around the same theme, with their latest TV ad campaigns emphasizing the trial-ability of the products.

Apart from trial-at-home, e-retailers have also started to provide virtual trial options. Zovi has a virtual trial room feature named Zovi Eye, through which consumers can virtually try any outfit using their webcam. 

There are also platforms available such as Imaginate's TRIALAR and Zugara's webcamsocialshopper which e-commerce stores can leverage to provide virtual trial benefits to consumers. If consumers are concerned over privacy issues, then such virtual trial feature will face resistance. Even if the resistance is lower, the bandwidth related issues will prevent wider adoption of such feature.

Innovative ways by which e-commerce stores can help consumers to try out personal products BEFORE making a purchase decision can be a sure shot differentiating factor. Return/exchange policies are good but because of the logistics and upfront payment, consumers feel the perceived risk and may not want to proceed further.

I was thinking of ways by which virtual trial can be implemented without privacy concerns. Instead of asking the consumer to allow access to his/her webcam, he/she can be asked a set of parameters to describe himself/herself. The parameters could be based on appearance, size and age. Based on these parameters, an appropriate mannequin can be used to wear the outfit. This would actually help the consumer to visualize how he/she would actually look rather than a perfect skinny model wearing the same outfit. Fitiquette's offering is similar to this idea.

E-commerce firms can also use the help of fashion designers to match right parameters with possible outfit options and can recommend mix-and-match combinations during virtual trial.

It would be interesting to see how the story unfolds in the next few years in the e-retailing scene in India, with a combination of the right technology, working around the bandwidth related constraints and helping consumers to experience their choice of clothing before they make a purchase.