BRX Pro Tip: The Danger of Optimizing for Super Users
Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, it sounds a little counterintuitive, I think, but there really is some risk and maybe some danger in optimizing your products, your services, your whole approach for the super user.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, this is one of those things where your super users, big fan, they love you, they can’t get enough of you, and they ask a lot of you sometimes, sometimes they want more and more and more. Because they’re your super user, they’re your most active user, so you start kind of incrementally adding some bells and whistles for them because, you know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Lee Kantor: So, they’re like always telling you it’d be great if you did this or it’d be great if you could also do this. And then, all of a sudden, your core offering is getting more and more complicated. Your core offering is getting more and more expensive. So the average person, the new person who becomes exposed of your service or your product is not thrilled with it anymore because it’s too hard. And it only works for people that have been immersed with your service or product for a period of time.
Lee Kantor: So, things to keep in mind that keep you from falling into this trap are, number one, separate out these power features from your core features. Keep your main experience simple and move more advanced offerings or stuff into an optional menu or an add-on.
Lee Kantor: And it’s important to really talk to kind of the newest customers and not just your oldest veteran customers. Understand what makes a new person come into your circle, and ask those people what it is that attracted them to this, what it is that they like. Because if you keep them happy and you have a flow of those people, then they’ll eventually become veteran people too.
Lee Kantor: So, make sure you’re talking to kind of the newbies as well as the veterans, and measure how many people are using all of these features that the power users are demanding. If it’s only a handful of people, maybe just say, sorry, we can’t do that. If barely anybody’s using it except for one client, it’s probably not useful for everybody. It’s only useful for this one individual. And don’t let that clutter up the experience for the vast majority of the other people that you’re trying to serve.
Lee Kantor: So, you want to make it easy for new people to get value fast, that’s critical, and you can always add complexity later for the people who want it. You know, if they pay for it, make it a premium offering. It doesn’t have to be part of kind of your core offering.
