This is an old article, but I recently found it in my notes and figured I’d post it here.
via 37signals
EventVue was always a vitamin instead of a pain killer. Conference organizers typically liked our product but none of them said they needed it. It didn’t make their lives easier, make them more money or cut any of their expenses — it was just ‘nice to have.’
Not everything needs to be a pain killer. Sometimes people need vitamins too.
We wrongly assumed that since we were obviously improving the conference experience, organizers would want to pay for it. One of our customers memorably said ‘If I wanted to improve the conference experience I would buy everyone steak dinners. I don’t care about the conference experience. I care about selling tickets. What can you do to help me do that?’
This mentality that the user experience doesn’t matter unless it solves some core pain is an unfortunate one for consumers, albeit necessary for the company’s bottom line. I’d like to see more services and companies that actually care about my experience, and actively work towards improving it, even if it harms their bottom line a little bit. Companies that show that kind of appreciation for their customers earn their loyalty.