In UX, avoid the airport cocktails problem
Every time I sit down in an airport, I know I’m going to get fleeced — and the question usually is, by how much?
To whit: I was in Miami airport last month, and sat down for a drink and a bite before my flight. I expected high prices, but my jaw hit the floor when I saw the following:
Tequila soda: $20
2 x street tacos $24
Guacamole and chips $18
Now, assuming this was a high end restaurant, these prices would be more palatable. However, the drink was mediocre (hard to do with such a simple one!), the tacos were soggy and included what looked like cold shredded bagged cheese sprinkled on top, and the guacamole clearly came out of a can.
I felt like I’d been robbed. And there was literally nothing I could do about it.
The lesson for UX?
Never let your user feel like they’ve been taken advantage of. Especially if you’re designing for Enterprise, where end users are typically a captive audience without much choice when it comes to the tools they use.
Just because you can provide a sub-par UX (even if users expect it!), doesn’t mean that you should.
