Users didn’t expect that!
Link tasks to delight users by taking them where they did not expect to go
The following questions provide a simple innovation tool kit.
- What task is the product really used for?
- When I know what tasks product is really used for, are there any steps that I can remove from that task?
- What tasks are the very next tasks that the user will want to perform after using my product?
By answering the first two questions we shift focus from the function of a product to the use of that product. We’ve aligned the product to the user’s task and we’ve made it as efficient as possible in performing that task.
Have we fully met user expectations? If we’ve done our job well, then yes — maybe the product has even impressed them. But, can we exceed their expectations?
Tale of the weary traveller
Imagine this. You’ve just disembarked a crowded flight. You waited way too long for your luggage. You waited ages in line for a taxi to take you to your hotel, and then the ride across town took forever, battling traffic and red lights all the way.
You’re now in your hotel lobby but some convention is kicking off and lines at the check-in desk are 20 deep. You’ve got a meeting in an hour followed by dinner straight after, then you’re flying out first thing in the morning. Right now all you want is 30 minutes peace and perhaps a cheeky gin and tonic.
Then you see it. There’s a kiosk in the lobby for checking in — and nobody is using it. In an instant you’re there, credit card inserted. Your name appears on the screen and in a few more seconds your room key pops out. Huzzah! A smile escapes for the first time today. Then you spot the screen flashing. Sigh! You read the displayed message and grin ear to ear. After a few more minutes at the kiosk you leave for your room, still grinning, and vowing to stay only at this hotel chain from now on.
Did you win a prize for being the one millionth customer? Were you upgraded to the presidential suite? No. The screen simply said, “We notice you are checking out tomorrow. Do you need a boarding pass?”
Responding “yes” would’ve given you access to the online check-in sites for the major airlines operating out of the airport, and would’ve printed your boarding pass too. The kiosk exceeded your expectations because it took care of your current task (checking into the hotel) well, and also recognised an adjacent task that you might wish to complete and facilitated its completion. It did so seamlessly from your perspective and you saved time and stress.
Taking tasks to the next level
The third question — What tasks are the very next tasks that the user will want to perform after using my product? — can lead us to ideas for the product that could make users even happier, and even to new products that might extend business into new areas.
Users want to complete tasks efficiently so they demand the removal of steps. Users may not so easily connect different tasks, even though they’re often linked in time like in the example above — checking into a hotel and boarding a flight the next day are often consecutive steps on a travel itinerary. We often don’t expect others to connect seemingly disparate tasks for us so when that happens we’re surprised and delighted.
Contiguity
Look for tasks that are contiguous, where a person doing the first task is very likely to do the second task, and to do it very soon afterwards. Contiguity can be functional or temporal. Functional contiguity exists when one task is related to and follows another. For example, when a coffee machine grinds the beans and brews the coffee. Temporal contiguity is when one task seems entirely separate and unrelated to another yet one always follows the other. For example, the wine pourer that also acts as a stopper when you find yourself with half a bottle left and you want to keep it for tomorrow night.
Loose Linking
Look for opportunities to loosely link contiguous tasks. We don’t have to get our boarding pass after our room key. It’s our choice. If we want to take the linked route, it’s easy for us to do so.
Leveraging
Look for tasks that leverage each other. If each task taken independently is well executed, then the temptation to take advantage of the convenience in joining them is very high, even if one task could be done better elsewhere. If a bread machine kneads bread well and also bakes it well (though not as well as an oven), then the convenience factor will outweigh the perfection factor most of the time. If I want a thicker crust, I can remove the kneaded dough from the bread machine and bake it in the oven. Loose linking let’s me do that.
When we build products that are tools, we optimise for a single task. When we link tasks effectively, we create a workflow that can improve user productivity and make the their relationship with the product stickier.
Loose linking can provide opportunities to partner with other service providers to create valuable task-to-task offerings. The hotel chain achieved this by linking its check-in service with airline check-in services. The link was just a simple hand-off to an airline web site. A hard link would’ve taken the user’s name, entered it into the airline check-in system and linked that name to a frequent flyer number. That would’ve required registration, which would probably have required the user to remember a user name and password.
Using a loose link, a user gains nearly all the advantages provided by a hard link, but without the pain of a registration process and having to remember a user name and password. The user obtains a boarding pass simply by typing in a few words and entering a booking reference.
It’s not enough that we know a product facilitates a contiguous task. We must know that users put a value on the additional task so that we can balance that against the complexity it might introduce. Net utility is the ultimate filter for product innovation.
