3 components of a great product
Aside from being useful, usable, and desirable, what makes a product great?
What makes you type in that website address or open that app?
Why do you keep coming back to something that may or may not enhance your daily life?
What makes you tell a friend “You need to download this”?
Simplicity
Great products are simple. It’s as simple as that.
But not really.
When a product is simple, it doesn’t make you think. Tasks are simple to accomplish, easy to remember, and you’re not left guessing where that specific settings pane you keep going back to is.
As a user, it’s nice knowing how to get where you want to go without having to dig. By making a product simple, whether that means a clear navigation, a clean color palette, or flows that follow an understandable path, you’re leaning into transparency with the user and respecting their time using the product, just as they hopefully respect your time making it.
Surprising
A great product will also surprise you, providing value that you didn’t necessarily think you needed.
Did you know you needed six different playlists each day with songs both from your favorite artists, and artists you’ve never heard of?
Did you know you needed to be able to buy a certain shampoo in just a few taps after seeing your favorite pro surfer swear it loosens knots in a snap?
Did you know you needed an app to secretly save you money based on your spending habits?
Probably not. But you probably have one (or more!) of the apps I’ve mentioned.
A good product does what you’d expect it to do, but when a product delights you with its’ functionality, it becomes a great product.
Habitual
A sign of a successful product from a business standpoint is when its’ users can’t put it down.
There are plenty of books and articles on the power of habits, both personally and when it comes to the increasingly habitual nature of technology in our lies. But when a product becomes a habit for a user and that habit is actually valuable, that’s when a product is great. Whether that means always picking up your phone to track your food after a meal, waking up and immediately setting a meditation timer, or always using that one work out app, great products seamlessly integrate themselves into our lives.
Think about some of the great products that you use on a daily basis.
Apps like Spotify, Gmail, and even iMessage all create simple and habitual, yet surprising experiences. We likely stop using apps that are too complex and don’t create an experience that you want to return to.
What are some of your favorite apps? Do they tick the boxes of simple, surprising, and habitual?
