Nov 21, 2023·edited Nov 21, 2023Liked by Steve Kenning
OMG YES! SO many times my team would show me dashboards with unsatisfactory results (e.g. downloads not hitting target) and I would ask WHY NOT? What do the users say about our app? How can we make it better? And they'd stare blankly at me. Nobody thought to ask a user. Any user. Anything. They'd just push out features and pray.
Then when our marketing team did research and figured out what features customers liked best, they put out marketing messages about it on social media. Except that people don't need a fancy AI--powered multi-stop crowd-avoiding elevator-finding mall navigation tool when they're on their butt scrolling the 'gram on the sofa at home. They need it when they are LOST AT THE MALL. So I asked 'what's our in-mall marketing plan? Blank stares.
Finally I said PLEASE SOMEBODY GO FIND AN INTERN TO STAND BESIDE THE MALL MAP FOR AN AFTERNOON AND TELL LOST-LOOKING PEOPLE THEY CAN DOWNLOAD THIS MAP INTO THEIR PHONE SO THEY CAN REFER TO IT WHEN THEY ACTUALLY NEED IT, WHICH IS WHEN THEY ARE NOT NEAR A PHYSICAL MAP. THEN MEASURE HOW MANY DOWNLOADS AND ACTIVE USERS WE GET THAT DAY. YEAH?
No. Blank stares. Nada.
The weeds are where the ugly truth lies, but they're ugly so... nobody likes to look there ;)
OMG YES! SO many times my team would show me dashboards with unsatisfactory results (e.g. downloads not hitting target) and I would ask WHY NOT? What do the users say about our app? How can we make it better? And they'd stare blankly at me. Nobody thought to ask a user. Any user. Anything. They'd just push out features and pray.
Then when our marketing team did research and figured out what features customers liked best, they put out marketing messages about it on social media. Except that people don't need a fancy AI--powered multi-stop crowd-avoiding elevator-finding mall navigation tool when they're on their butt scrolling the 'gram on the sofa at home. They need it when they are LOST AT THE MALL. So I asked 'what's our in-mall marketing plan? Blank stares.
Finally I said PLEASE SOMEBODY GO FIND AN INTERN TO STAND BESIDE THE MALL MAP FOR AN AFTERNOON AND TELL LOST-LOOKING PEOPLE THEY CAN DOWNLOAD THIS MAP INTO THEIR PHONE SO THEY CAN REFER TO IT WHEN THEY ACTUALLY NEED IT, WHICH IS WHEN THEY ARE NOT NEAR A PHYSICAL MAP. THEN MEASURE HOW MANY DOWNLOADS AND ACTIVE USERS WE GET THAT DAY. YEAH?
No. Blank stares. Nada.
The weeds are where the ugly truth lies, but they're ugly so... nobody likes to look there ;)
👍
Love it Steve. Miss battling in the trenches along your side. Eagerly awaiting the next edition.