Kudos to packaging engineers for improving Hershey’s chocolate syrup
The kid in me still loves chocolate milk. However, chocolate syrup has been missing from our fridge for a while now so I picked up a new container of Hershey's chocolate syrup today while running a few errands. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had redesigned the cap on the bottle. Here's a picture of the old style (remember how it would always not get fully closed and would get all crusty?):
Here's the new and improved design which, so far, stays much cleaner, easier to open, and easier to use:
Sometimes it's the little things in life that make me happy. 
Oh, and by the way, Chip's Ahoy has improved the labeling on their product so you don't accidentally open it on the sides of the packaging (see my original post where I accidentally mauled the package):
Consumer Insights: To research or not to research?
It's interesting reading about large consumer brands and their various methodologies for consumer research as it relates to new product development. In the consumables business, P&G is the heavyweight and is the pinnacle of research with their expertise in identifying the products that resonate with consumers. They also have manufacturing and distribution dialed in which makes them the "ideal" that many manufacturing-driven organizations aspire to be like.
Then there's Apple. Their products are generally always innovative and meet some consumer unmet need so well that people literally fall in love with their brand and products they pump out each and every year. Yes, there have been some duds (the Cube is one that comes to mind), but it doesn't happen often.
To research or not to research?
In a recent article from Fortune, Steve Jobs is quoted:
"We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. The only consultants I've ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products."
I found this to be fascinating. How can one of the most popular and successful consumer brands not perform any consumer research? Then I read the following quote:
"It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do.
So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' "
Keep it simple, stupid
When one sits back and thinks about it, Apple really makes products people want. There's no real convincing that needs to happen as to why they they need an iPhone or iPod -- people just get it. The features offered on Apple's products are such "no brainers" that it's an obvious purchase the consumer wants...or rather, needs to make.
All Apple really needs to do with virtually any of its products is build awareness (which they are excellent at doing) and let the product do the work. They don't have ads or commercials explaining why a "touch screen" iPhone is better than a standard cell phone. They simply show the sexy design, a few things that it can do, and people are hooked -- they just get it.
What if you can't keep it simple?
When your product can't do this and you find yourself listing feature/benefit statements in every piece of marketing collateral, you know you've got an uphill battle ahead of you. Find that one thing that if a consumer sees it, they'll just get it and be sold on your product.
So, let's go out and quit doing research, right?
Apple's product portfolio is about 30 products (which is incredible for a $30 billion company), so they can be very focused on things they are good at. Other companies do not have such luxuries and simply do not have the bandwidth to be consumer experts in every single product line.
Usability studies for your website
The same can be said for websites, too. Sometimes, while online marketers and designers have the best intentions for site design, it does need to be tested and researched outside "the four walls" of the company to get real-world feedback. As sites scale, it's hard to keep your head wrapped around every single page, link, and graphic on the site. This is where usability studies come into play.
Usability studies are great for two reasons:
- They expose the huge gaps or even little intricacies that you may have overseen during the development stages. Better to capture these gaps now and fix them before rolling out features on a wide scale.
- Sometimes you need the validation from consumers about satisfaction ratings on the site -- often a point that needs to be used in a supporting argument for convincing upper management or potential customers that the site design, user interface, and/or information architecture is favored by consumers.
Sometimes you need consumer insights and market research to "sell" your ideas internally
Apple has the luxury of a CEO that understands the art behind product development and views things from a consumer standpoint. But it looks like he can also squash a project in its tracks without any consumer insights -- making a new product launch vulnerable to his own opinions. For the most part, Apple has been very successful with this model.
In other businesses, this is often not the case, and a website can be driven in a direction that can be misguided by upper management who may not "get" web design, navigation, and information architecture. Usability studies and consumer insights can be a powerful tool for not only consumers, but for you when "selling" the site internally.
Planning a road trip? AAA’s Internet TripTik trumps Google Maps
In this era of Google-dominated web applications, it's a rare find when another competitive service by a much more established company is actually better than Google's. My wife and I are AAA members. AAA provides a service in which they will map out a road trip for your travel needs. This service is called a "TripTik." Historically, this has been a service that you call AAA for and they send you a bound, printed copy of your driving plan, like this:
Like any company adjusting to modern times, AAA is moving many of their services to their website at AAA.com. This includes the TripTik service (you can still order a printed copy!).
AAA TripTik vs. Google Maps
One thing I do give Google Maps is the fast, convenient nature of their mapping tool -- which is great for short trips and quick directions to that new restaurant or store in your area that you want to check out. For road trips, however, it falls short of the robustness of AAA's TripTik service.
Google's UI Advantage:
This post wouldn't be complete without some discussion on usability and user interface. Google makes it extremely easy to quickly type in your start and end destination. Simply enter in the following:
minneapolis, mn to chicago, il
And voila! Your map is created.
AAA's UI Disadvantages
On AAA.com's TripTik, you have to first find the "Internet TripTik" link (small, fairly unnoticeable button...see it? It's under the "Gas prices near you" tool on the bottom right-hand side of their homepage.):
There is no easy URL to remember like there is for Google Maps (maps.google.com). If there is one, they don't advertise it, which is a bummer. A simple http://triptik.aaa.com that redirected to the full URL would work wonders! Here's their full URL:
http://ww1.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline.woa/2004?
association=aaa&poiKey=259&club=111&page=ITTServices&
sessionRedirect=1198155291293
Next, there's the interface for entering your "start" and "end" destinations. This is also another usability issue compared to Google Maps in that you are required to type in your city separately from the state (you have to choose the state from a drop-down menu). This is another reason why Google Maps is better than AAA for "quick" directions & maps. It's much easier to quickly enter a "start" and "end" destination within Google Maps: Type in maps.google.com, page loads instantly, type in "from city, state to city, state" and you're done. The extra clicks and effort to fill in the AAA TripTik do not make it a viable tool for extremely easy and quick data entry.
AAA's advantage over Google
The meat of the TripTik service is its ability to map out detailed driving directions, including lodging information, notices on when to expect heavy traffic (when traveling during rush hour through various cities), and road construction details. These are all areas where Google Maps does not provide any guidance.
Additionally, the "printable" version of AAA's TripTik provides a nicely-formatted PDF specifically designed to be printed on your home computer. Google Maps on the other hand will print like any normal web page would -- adding page breaks where it's most inconvenient. AAA's TripTik PDF's have directions in logical chunks so that it's easy to follow on your road trip. Take a look at the screen shots:
(The yellow boxes indicate road contruction. Also notice the rush hour notification at the bottom of map #2)
AAA Internet TripTik trumps Google Maps for road trips...but not for quick, local trips
With a few minor changes, AAA could actually be a contender with Google Maps for quick, local directions and trips. Longer distances, where it's important to know where lodging is available, where road construction is, etc. and it's an excellent tool. I'm willing to look past the usability nuances for the much more detailed information for extended road trips.
Evaluate the usability on your website
Are there any areas like this on your website? Would a simple, easy-to-remember URL benefit your consumers or customers so they can quickly arrive at a tool they use most often (i.e. maps.google.com)? Or do you force them to navigate through your site to find the tools they need?
Subtle changes can go a long way in improving your site's usability and customer satisfaction. It's always good to solicit feedback from your web users and do frequent competitive analysis of "the other guys'" sites.
More Comparison Shopping Woes
As we continue to fine-tune the usability and comparison shopping on our site, I'm also paying close attention to how other manufacturers are executing as well.
After traveling over the past few weeks, I've been privy to sleeping on several different beds in hotels, friend's homes, and family members' homes. My wife and I need a new bed as ours has developed half-pipe indentations (who really enjoys flipping and rotating a king-size mattress every month?).
Tempur-Pedic has been pouring money into marketing dollars on this half of the year -- at least I feel like we've been seeing their ads more often (certainly more than the Sleep Number bed). For some reason I just cannot mentally buy into the sleep number bed, so I took a gander at the Tempur-Pedic offering this morning on their website. I never knew buying a bed was so confusing. Let's start at the product page for their "sleep systems":
Wow, 9 different beds to choose from just based on the primary feature alone. They've at least given them unique names, but I have no idea which one is right for me. Oh wait, there's a comparison option, great, let's check that out:
Ouch, look at all of these options and names that mean absolutely nothing to me. What is the difference between a Quilted TEMPUR-HD and a Quiltend TEMPUR "comfort layer? What about the diference between the Grand AirFlow System and T-Flex Support System as the base layer? Can these options not be combined? What if I want both of them in one bed?
Comparison Shopping Flaws
The fatal flaw this website makes is that it does not SELL me on the "WHY?". It is a brochure which assumes intimate knowledge of the differences in products and what each of the features means (it comes across as an assisted-sale tool for sales people). The comparison page should add clarity to the products offered, not additional confusion. If there are confusing terminologies and/or features, then at least provide pop-up windows or links to definitions of the features that provide feature and benefit statements for the consumer. This Tempur-Pedic comparison page does neither.
How we're testing comparison shopping
We have an initial implementation of comparison shopping between product models of blinds and shades. The added benefit we provide are descriptions of product options listed on the comparison page.
I've received more information from a commercial about the Tempur-Pedic "sleep system" than I did on their website.
Additionally, pricing is also available on our page, too, so the consumer can determine if they are even in the right ballpark for their budget. This was another thing I noticed that was missing from the Tempur-Pedic comparison page -- I have no idea what the cost ranges are for their product. While I expect to spend a decent amount of money, I'm unable to determine generally what that amount is going to be. Do you shop for cars online without seeing the price? Probably not.
Provide the context in which the feature is beneficial to the consumer
One thing I've found is marketers are not the best salesmen. They do a great job at drawing you into the store to take a look at the product, but a big part of online marketing is also selling. I expected to go to the Tempur-Pedic site to find exactly the right bed for me based on the features and benefits of those features of their various offerings. All I've taken away is that there are 9 models and I probably need to go to a store to find out more information from a real salesmen on which bed is right for me. Frustrating.
We're getting there, but it's not perfect...yet
While I don't believe we have perfected the model in our online store, we are certainly learning from consumers, soliciting feedback, and analyzing site usage reports to determine how people are currently shopping vs. how they want to shop. Manfacturing companies like us tend to be far too feature-focused instead of being benefit focused. This is forcing companies like ours and like Tempur-Pedic to change their method of selling and marketing of products -- which is a good thing.
I think many companies get in their own way when trying to communicate to the consumer -- this further stresses the importance of usability testing both from a site architecture standpoint as well as a marketing/selling standpoint. The site may be fully usable, but at the end of the day, is it influencing a sale or better yet, is it converting a browser to a buyer? Tempur-Pedic has yet to convert me.
Automotive manufacturers don’t quite get comparison shopping
If you watch Sunday night football (or any football, for that matter), you'll be bombarded with plenty of commercials -- especially automotive commercials. Since I'm a self-described "car guy," I took interest in the Mercedes C-class commercials that have been airing recently touting the new styling and design "starting in the low $30's."
Little did I know that I was in for a frustrating experience when I visited the Mercedes website! This frustration carried over to BMWusa.com as well as Ford.com when I started comparing the BMW 300 series and the Ford Expeditions (the new car bug has bitten me since the smashing of the rear window of our SUV this past weekend).
The frustration with Mercedes' website
I have historically owned American-made vehicles. Navigating a foreign car company's website (even though it was the USA site) proved interesting as things are just a little "different." The main frustration with Mercedes was lack of product descriptions with their models. Not being a previous Mercedes owner, I have no idea what the different classes are. Foreign vehicles tend to be named by their literal model names (i.e. C300 Sport Sedan, C300 Luxury Sedan, C350 Sport Sedan, and so on) vs. American vehicles which are typically named "real" names (i.e. Ford Expedition, Ford Mustang, Ford Escape).
Lack of comparison shopping
Model name nomenclature aside, what is most frustrating is the lack of comparison options for Mercedes. Even within the C-class, I am presented with 3 models, C300 Sport Sedan, C300 Luxury Sedan, and the C350 Sport Sedan. All 3 are sedans and two of them are "sports." I was forced to specifically navigate each of the model pages and subsequent technical specs to fully understand the differences between the 3 models. This is a major no-no on websites -- especially on sites trying to sell you an expensive automobile. While I'm making a large investment, I still expect comparison shopping tools be to available to me on a $30-$50k car as I would on a $200-$300 iPod. Nowhere was I able to see a side-by-side comparison of all of the options available on the various models to determine which model was right for me.
BMW suffers from the same "model overload"
BMW suffers from the same model vagueness as Mercedes, but is arguably worse. With 12 models within the "3 Series," at this point, it is information overload. Again, not familiar with BMW at all, I have no idea what the difference is between the feature and benefits of all 12 models. Simple descriptions such as Coupe, Sedan, and Convertible help narrow it down, and since I'm interested in Sedans, this fortunately limits my choices down to only 4 models. But these 4 models are: 328i, 328xi, 335i, 335xi. As I later found, the "x" is for all-wheel-drive and is positioned as its own model, and not an option within a model, which I found to be non-consumer friendly. Again, the lack of side-by-side comparison shopping of the models forced me to spend extra time navigating the site to find the answers I needed.
Ford also lacks the necessary comparison tools, too
Ford too, despite its more obvious naming convention (i.e. Ford Expedition), suffers from the same model overload problem. There are 8 different Expedition models to choose from, ranging from starting prices of $30k all the way up to $42k.
While there is a comparison feature on the screen shot above, it is nowhere near comprehensive enough to understand the incremental differences between XLT, Eddie Bauer, Limited, and King Ranch. For years I have owned Fords, so I generally know the XLT is entry-level, but I don't know what makes the Limited "worth" $3000 more than the Eddie Bauer.
Gaining a specific understanding and navigating further down the purchase funnel
Each of these sites suffer from comparison tools that prevent the consumer from gaining a specific understanding of options/features/benefits of models compared to one another. They suffer from the assumption that consumers are intimately familiar with the meanings of the various models simply by literal model names. For consumers just entering the segment, this is not the case. The C-class and 300-series models are generally entry-level Mercedes and BMWs, respectively, so they should particularly cater to the needs of an unfamiliar audience.
Does your site have the comparison tools consumers require?
With all of this said, it is important to take a look at your site, regardless of whether you're selling online or not. If I were to visit a dealership, these subtle differences between car models can probably be easily explained by a salesman in a matter of seconds. This same information and selling assistance needs to be made available on a website, too.
Blog by Eric Long
I'm an experienced online marketer, information architect, digital strategist, and social media enthusiast. I'm passionate about providing outstanding cross-channel experiences for considered purchases (with a focus on mass customization).
About Eric Long
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