Krug’s book is primarily focused on the SaaS industry, but the methods are of use to all business leaders. Its essence concerns the creation of a fabulous, problem-solving product, compared with one that’s actually usable.
Too many great products have been designed without the user in mind. There’s an expectation that it’s up to them to catch up and work it out for themselves. Don’t Make Me Think makes it clear that it’s never the user’s fault. Making life harder than it needs to be is of no benefit to customers, nor your business.
After all, unhappy customers will simply go elsewhere. It’s not their job to get in the mind of your developers and see things their way – they’ve simply bought a product to make their own lives easier.
Happy customers are far more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family, as well as make further purchases in future. Given it costs around five times more to acquire new customers than retain existing ones, this is a worthwhile investment. Making a usable product is an essential part of providing a first-rate customer experience.
As mentioned earlier, the focus here may be on SaaS products, but the thinking can be applied to all start-ups. We all need to win and retain customers, as well as find ways of taking products and making them mainstream.
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