We always want to make some breakthroughs, create something new, and show a new future when we do user experience. However, we usually fall into the trap of showing off some cool things, for example, this trap allows us to focus too much on new creativity and ignore current situations. We should focus on current situations if we want to create excellent user experience. In reality, the user’s pain points can easily see. Thus, our task is to eliminate or at least alleviate this pain. This may not create new things, but it does not matter. Because success is cumulative.
Here are a few companies that are widely considered to have a good user experience examples:
Netflix lets you don’t need to go to a DVD rental store and you can watch the latest movies at home. Also, they can give you reliable movie recommendations. Their success is largely due to the elimination of a pain point — delayed reimbursements, for instance, if you return late, almost all rental shops charge an extra fee. So sometimes, a good user experience requires subtraction instead of addition. Netflix didn’t solve a new problem, they just got rid of an old problem.
What Zappos sells is ordinary and even boring: shoes. But they solved a common problem — bad service. As every knows, good services are the foundation of user experience.
What Jetblue does is also very simple. They installed a private TV screen behind the passenger seat. This is standard feature now, but Jetblue was the first one at that time. Technology is not new, but there is a lot of personal entertainment that can be enjoyed during the flight. Plus the food on their plane is not bad. That is why they greatly improve the flight experience.
These companies did not solve the problems of the future. They only eliminated the long-standing pain points. This is the way to provide a good user experience.