Customers Don’t Need Features
When packaged software could be found on the shelves in big box retailers, I used to spend a fair bit of time looking at the back of boxes. Screenshots! Bulleted lists! System requirements! This was as close to a test drive as I was going to get before purchasing, so I needed to make sure the tool was up to the task I had in mind for it. You could read riveting lines such as, “Over 500 different widgets to manipulate!” or, “Seven different modes of use.” Hot dog! The problem is…none of those list items or screenshots gave me any hint as to whether this product was going to be useful for me or not.
As a product manager, I often reference the danger of “back of the box thinking” with stakeholders and development teams. When I use the term “back of the box thinking,” I’m referencing the tendency to focus on features instead of outcomes. Great, your product offers 500 widgets, but do they offer the 3 I need to do my job? Seven modes of use? Neat, but how does that impact my bottom line? I’ve been in many Discovery conversations with stakeholders, founders, and product teams that obsess about things like this. Because a competitor has Feature X, we should do. If a competitor has twelve, we need to have fifteen. This misses the point of user-centered design altogether.
Who is your user, what are they trying to do, what’re the obstacles in their way, and how you can solve their needs. Maybe you’ll find that you only need 5 widgets instead of the five hundred you dreamed up. Turns out, 1 mode of operation is all that’s needed when it’s the right mode. At the end of the day, your user doesn’t care about the bulleted list of features, they care about being able to do the job they hired your product to do.
“Back of the box thinking” encourages a push for more, more, more, when in reality, more is rarely the answer. Think about a product you use regularly, whether it’s digital or not. If I ask you why you use that product, what does your response sound like? Take this example:
- Andrew uses Google Drive because it offers 1 terabyte of cloud storage space.
- Andrew uses Google Drive because he can easily access all his stuff across all his devices.
In the former, you’re getting a stat without context. There are tons of cloud storage providers that provide a terabyte (or more) of storage. In the latter, you get a few different pieces: ALL his stuff…across ALL his DEVICES. The first bullet point above doesn’t describe any sort of value to the end user. The second example paints a picture of what Andrew hired Google Drive to do. I don’t care that it’s 1 terabyte or 500, if it can hold all my stuff, I’m good.
Of course this has implications in marketing and presentation and such, but as a product manager or founder, you need think about the product from the perspective of value provided to the end user. If you think you’re going to win a customer by offering 1 more widget than the competitor, you’re probably in for a rude awakening.
Are you looking for help defining the value proposition of your product, service, or business? Feel free to reach out via LinkedIn, email (andrew@betterproduct.co), or directly in the comments and we’ll connect. See ya next time!
