Don’t Just Add Features – Change Your Customers’ Behavior

There is a big difference between what a user can and what they will do. Feature lists are all about what a software can do. But they don’t tell you anything about what a user will do.

When we used to do e-learning consulting, occasionally we would have to document a new “feature” on a product. The process for actually using the “feature” required so many steps that there was no possible way anyone would ever actually use the feature. The customers could use the feature, but they wouldn’t. The feature had clearly been developed with the goal of adding a bullet point to the product brochure but not without any intent of actually increasing the productivity of the organizations customers.

As you may know, we picked up an iPad about a month ago to do some documentation. When I haven’t been creating ScreenSteps tutorials for the iPad I have been playing around with it quite a bit. What have I noticed? I read a lot more. But I am not reading books. (I haven’t really delved into the eBook thing yet. I like lending good books to people too much. You can’t do that with an eBook.) I am reading many more blog articles, news items and even emails from relatives.

Why this change in my behavior? A lot has to do with Instapaper for the iPad. This is a great little utility that extracts the text you want to read from a website or email and stores it for you to read later. I have had this utility on my iPhone for awhile but have only used it sparingly. But the iPad really changed that.

I have found that the time I really want to sit down and read is after dinner and after all of the kids are in bed. But I don’t want to pull out my laptop to read something. I work all day at a computer and opening the laptop feels too much like work. This is my time to relax.

The iPad and Instapaper are perfect at this time. I open up Instapaper and instantly have a list of all the things I wanted to “read later”.

What is the feature of the iPad or Instapaper that has changed my behavior? It would be hard to list in a product brochure. In fact, Instapaper hardly has any features at all and the iPad is really just an iPod touch with a bigger screen. These products didn’t introduce stunning features. But they had the right mix of “something” to dramatically change my behavior.

Occasionally when people are looking at ScreenSteps they will ask us, “Well, can’t I do all of this with Microsoft Word and another screen capture utility.” We answer, “Yes you can, but you won’t.” ScreenSteps doesn’t have any features that let you do things that you couldn’t already do by using other tools. But ScreenSteps ties the workflow together in a way that is so easy that all of the sudden something people wouldn’t do (software documentation) becomes something they will do quite regularly. And some even think it makes documentation fun.

That was our goal when we created ScreenSteps. Could we take a bunch of people who aren’t currently creating documentation (but should be creating documentation) and change their behavior? Could we get them to create more documentation and better documentation? We still have a lot of work to do but I can say with certainty, in this regard, we have been successful. We hear all the time from our customers about how much documentation they are now creating with ScreenSteps and how much it is helping their business or organization. That is really rewarding.

Features matter very little. Products only improve your life if they help you do something better or faster. When you are building your next product or updating your current one, stop worrying about features. Ask yourself, “How can I change my customers’ behavior?” You’ll add a lot more value to their lives.