Looking Beyond the Idea to Expectations

The idea may be a good one but does the execution live up to the users' expectations?  Does it even live up to your expectations?  In my Views of July 5, 2000, titled, "Failure Requires Effort," I wrote about a company that never consumer tests product changes they make to current market brands.  To be very honest, this sounded extremely stupid to me.  I have seen too many good ideas fail, not because of the idea but with the execution of the idea.  With any change to a market product, we should see if the consumer can see the difference regardless of the nature of the change, cost savings or improvement.  It just seems to be common sense to evaluate the degree to which the change is apparent to the consumer.

Looking beyond the idea is extremely important.  You may kill a good idea through an inadequate execution.  You could have an idea that would revolutionize the category but miss the boat because it did not live up to the promises.  Evaluating the degree to which a product lives up to the promises should always be a critical part of the product evaluation before introducing it into the market.  We should not only know what promise we intend to make to the consumer, but we should also know what the consumer thinks we are promising.  Know the perception of the words we are using and especially how they will judge if the product is delivering on the promise or not.

I recently became aware of a company that had an idea for their product that could change the entire market with its introduction.  However, they did not even "Use Test" the idea among consumers.  They went directly to the market.  (Note:  This is not the company featured in the Views "Failure Requires Effort.")  Guess what.  They had a great idea with a poor execution.  Will that company go back to the drawing board and do the required work.  I don't know.  But I do know that it is hard to resurrect an idea once it is shot down.  Actually the resurrection of good ideas that failed initially usually comes through competition and not in the original company.

Another good idea that I personally encountered involves my new computer.  It has an indicator on the screen that shows how many pages of ink I have remaining in my printer cartridge.  A great idea but poor execution.  Unfortunately, I have yet to have a cartridge last beyond the "160 pages left" indication.  Here is a good idea that would not cause me to purchase the computer but would be an added benefit.   However, because of the inaccurate indications of the remaining ink, I usually feel as if I am being cheated because I cannot obtain the indicated printing capabilities.

Always look at delivery, expected or not, early in the development stage of the idea/product.  Know what promises you are making.  Don't make promises you can't keep.  A promise may deliver a sale but a broken promise will result in an unhappy customer.

Reader Responses

It is really great to hear form readers.  It is an indication that at least my Views are being read.  Last month was one of those times where you knew you struck a chord with some of the readers.  I sent the Views on "Simplicity" out between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. and by 6:23 a.m., I receive my first response.  The second response came through at 8:53 a.m.  Thanks to all who have sent e-mail or called about the different Views.  It is appreciated.