What’s Convenient Gets Used — a General Principle That Applies to Nearly Everything
September 17th, 2008 | Posted in blog 4 Comments »
Recently I switched from using the iRiver I bought two years ago to my wife’s iPod Nano, which she only uses intermittently. I don’t know why I used my iRiver for so long. The iPod is superior in every way, but mostly because it offers convenience. For example,
- New podcasts download automatically when I merely plug it in to my computer and click Sync.
- Its small size allows me to clip it onto my belt and easily hide the headphones in my pocket.
- I can quickly toggle between music and podcasts.
- When I stop a podcast half way in the middle, the iPod remembers where I left off the next time I return to it.
I have my BlackBerry clipped onto the left side of my belt and the iPod Nano clipped onto the right. Yes, it feels nerdy, but it’s also extremely convenient. If I had to dig the iPod out of my backpack every time I wanted to listen to a podcast, or if I had to sit there every morning downloading podcasts, I’d be much less likely to listen. But by making podcasts extremely convenient, I plow through more episodes now than ever.
There’s a lesson to learn here: Don’t underestimate the importance of convenience. If you want to increase the usage of your help material, increase its convenience. Make your help context-sensitive. Provide a one-page quick reference guide. Give the user a search field that returns accurate results, etc. The long printed manual is going out of style not because it’s ugly or long, but because it’s inconvenient.
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Tags: context-sensitive help, convenience, iPod Nano, iRiver, philosophy, quick reference guide, Technical Writing
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The corollary is: If nobody uses your product, then it’s worthless.
I’m reluctant to cast this issue in the following light, but it’s Mac vs. PC/Linux. Apple puts incredible effort in optimizing the user experience, at the expense of flexibility. It’s just like the recent thread about including everything in the manual: there are other mp3/media players on the market that offer more features, more control, more flexibility, but as far as market acceptance (the ultimate indicator of use), iPods are king – and even at a price premium.
w0s last blog post..best practices for moving content between documents
@w0, Thanks for the comment. Wouldn’t the corollary be, If nobody uses your product, then it’s inconvenient? I’m not sure inconvenient is the same as worthless. But thanks for putting it in a different light.
oh, yeah.
axiom / postulate / theorem / corollary / hypothesis
I don’t know the differences
w0s last blog post..best practices for moving content between documents
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