Lessons in listening to customers

You'd think that these results would surprise no one who's done a minimum amount of "grandma" research. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to create little booklets for my parents or grand-parents so they could perform basic functions on their cell phones, or sat down with them to program their new phones because their "listen to prompt, lower handset, press correct key" response times were slower than the system's time-out. On the other hand, it does show how badly thought-through the user experience on cell phones is. After all, a well designed product, whether physical or digital, should _be_ simple to use upon first laying eyes on it. With repeated use, it should then reveal its complexity and subtleties as the user becomes more comfortable with its conventions and begins to explore outside their comfort zone. This is what made the Mac OS and TiVo the loved/loyal brands they are today, why it's taken Apple 20 years to release a mutli-button mouse, and why so fewer people carry around video cameras anymore (Do their engineers actually use their products? I can barely hold one of those Sony Handycams without approaching it as a hand-and-finger placement puzzle.) From what I can tell from personal experience, there's two main reasons why cell phone user experience is so poor: dislike of phone prompt menus, and small screen sizes. Both necessitated code-based interfaces ("press 3 for customer service". "Ring style is on menu 9-4-3") which with increasingly intelligent voice recognition systems and larger screens will mitigate many of the current usablity problems -- just as the cell phone execs become aware of the problem. Be on the lookout for "missed-window" products like cell phones with 4inch screens and "My First Sony"-size on-screen buttons. ;-)

I turned 23 in July and I don't even use half of the features on my cell phone! I don't get all the hype of cameras, texting, the web, etc... I got my cell phone to make phone calls, period. Yeah, sometimes, maybe it is easier to send a short text message instead of making a phone call, if it's a quick "I'll be right there", but I find it easier to dial a number and speak than to try and type with those tiny buttons. Call me old fashioned but I'll take a plain old telephone than one of these fancy gadgets they are selling now.

As someone who works for a carrier, I can tell you that the phone executives don't want to hear this. They want glitzy toys to play with. they are not interested in hearing about drudgery like providing good simple devices that offer a simple, reliable experience. The company that gets it, will win the race.

The more advanced the phones get, the worse the user experience -- but no phone company wants to hear that. It looks like Vodaphone got the message, though. Maybe some company will come out with a simple phone containing a mono screen (so you can read your phone in the sunshine), no camera (so you can take it into a courtroom), and buttons sized for normal fingers, all packed into a clamshell handset that's small without going microscopic. But while I'm wishing, I'd like a pony and a milkshake, too...

The problem is that no one - not the engineers, the product designers or the marketers - bothers to ask the simplest question before they dream up the newest feature-filled product, be it a cellphone or any other electronic device. Namely: "What do you want out of a product like this?" Believe it or not, usually it's just a few simple things. I think back over a dozen years to the Christmas when I decided to drag my parents into the 20th century by buying them a VCR. I went to my nearest big box electronics retailer and was totally taken in by the salesman's pitch that the particular model I'd decided on was a wonder that could do everything but walk the family dog. Sure enough, for years afterwards I was constantly re-engaging settings after power outages or translating the incomprehensible 100-page user's manual into short index cards that I thought my highly-educated parents could follow. Turns out, all they really wanted was a VCR that would allow them to do 2 things: (1) play a tape that they'd purchased or rented and (2) record a program as they were watching it so they might view it again later. Most of all, they just wanted to be able to press a handful of intuitive buttons like on/off, play, record, stop and rewind to accomplish all this. They didn't care that the machine could be programmed weeks in advance to record a program while they were out of town in another time zone or that the remote control allowed them to shuffle backwards and forwards at 5 different speeds while in Edit mode. Their utility zone was as narrow as their comfort zone, which wasn't very wide.

With cellphones, I wonder why designers and engineers can't seem to incorporate a few basic functions that would not only make the user experience better for technophobes like my parents but would also benefit society from an etiquetee standpoint. What are two of the biggest etiquette problems I'm sure we all encounter on a daily basis? One is cellphones ringing in places they shouldn't like churchs or theaters, or during ceremonies or speeches. I think half the reason this happens isn't so much because people are inconsiderate. I think it's because they find it so difficult and time-consuming to go through the half dozen screen prompts to set their phone temporarily to silent or vibrate that they don't bother. Why can't cellphone manufactures put a simple switch on the their phones that allows a user to click to on, off or vibrate on the fly? Another problem involves people who receive calls they absolutely have to take when they're in the midst of meetings or public gatherings. Most want to get to a more private area as quickly as possible, in part so they don't disturb others and in part to better hear their caller. But in scrambling to answer the call and tell the caller to hold on they typically make a scene and cause far more of an interruption than anyone would care for. I've always thought it would be a godsend if cellphone manufacturers could incorporate a single, well-marked button into their phones. When pressed once the button would do 2 things. First, it would answer the call, stop the phone from ringing and place the phone on mute so all in the area can avoid having to hear the sound of a caller on the other end yelling "Hello!" Second, it would transmit a short voicemail to the caller alterting him/her that they've been connected but that the person they're calling needs a few seconds to reach a location where they can take the call without disturbing others. When person being called reaches that location, they'd hit the button again the phone would swith off mute and bang, the conversation could begin. Tell me there aren't legions of users of any age that would love to have such a simple yet useful function built into their phone. Somehow I doubt we'll ever see such a feature.

I work for a company that creates content for mobile phones and by far my biggest frustration is that it's not easy for users to find and buy the content -- phone UI is god-awful, and the carriers don't seem to care. If the carriers paid more attention to user experience and a bit less on trying to protect their stranglehold on the distribution channel, they'd actually make a lot more money.

Interesting item, indeed.

Unfortunately, a real test that Vodafone seems to fail at is drumming these learnings throughout their worldwide organisation. I can tell you that Vodafone Fiji doesn't seem to incorporate user-centric approaches like this.

One true measure of a customer-focused organisation is most certainly driving change company-wide, in my opinion.

perhaps it's time to put together measures of customer centricity - here is a hasty late night list - thoughts, additions, reordering, flames?

Level
00. the world beyond the four walls is reviewed at annual meetings, input comes from legacy consultants or vendors, making waves is the ticket to siberia, in this organization, the customer is king and rhetoric is a close second
0. the product centric organization, outsourced market research used primarily for CYA, no budget for customer centric innitiatives
1. operational processes are maybe tweaked based on customer comments- the squeeky wheel
2. operational processes are designed based on customer input, mystery shopping, intercepts, personas understood and communicated to org, experience design sensabilty
3. operational processes are designed based on customer observations (ethno techniques/contextual research vs. focus groups), innovation skunk works are routine and empowered
4. Applications(like the web, kiosks, and cell apps), products and process are designed based on customer observations and input
5. Innovation is part of the DNA, institutionalized research competancy, psychologists, interactive designers, etc

After working with various mobile device manufacturers in a consultancy role, I have long said that a simple phone that has good sound quality, a basic, easy-to-use phone book, and button sizes reasonable for all segments of the population would be a top seller.

Unfortunately, the carriers do not view basic calling as a moneymaker, so they would never support the development and sale of such a device.

Let's place the blame where it belongs. The carriers dictate phone features based on monetization, and since handset sales are driven through the carriers, the OEM's will only produce what the carriers will sell. We wind up paying less attention to developing the experience of *calling* and more attention to developing the bells and whistles.

I have been complaining about the wretched excesses on cell phone for some time and it is only getting worse. No we can watch television on a tiny cell phone screen? Why would anyone want to do that, exactly?

I question the need for SMS. By the time you are done messaging someone, you might as well phone them. And many carriers charge extra for text messaging.

Carriers should worry less about bells and whistles on phones and worry more about why I can often get no signal in the middle of a large city.

the cell phone appliance has gotten so complex that casual users are alientated - what are we going to do? do we care? how do we solve this problem, is it a problem, should we offer training classes to the mainstream - is the cell phone the new enterprise application - how do we figure this out? are they figuring this out? they don't seem to care so perhaps we are in the "kitchen sink ware" phase? - remember the idea of design for intermediates and assuming that someday we beginers will be thankful for some/all of these features, is that how it will play out - do we need cell phones for experts - the alarm on my phone is ringing, I have a meeting, oh, wait there's the SMS message - it's delayed - I don't like that ring tone, time to shop...

Hi,

I totaly agree with you, we should hear what user's have to say. I am actually finnishing my PHD :NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND SELF-CONCEPT
A comparative study of the representations of mobile phone among French and Finnish adolescents.
And this is one of my results, especially teenagers, they don't use and wants so much more new fonctions, and they are not stupid! i think they know exactly what they wants and what they need.
I hope researcher and big phone firms would listen a bit more this kind of Findings...

Thanks
Marion