User Centered

Toy marketing has a double edged sword to walk. The users have no money and the buyers will never use the product. What a pickle!

Parental fear of "some assembly required" shows how powerless we feel, stuck between the demands of a three year old and the shareholders in Mattel. We secretly suspect that parents are the weak link in this whole Christmas machine. Nobody really cares about us. But should they? [1]

The issue is one that usability professionals often face: The buyers are not the users. How do you convince company xyz that a usability evaluation will help their project? And what do you do when company xyz requests something that is a clear usability violation?

The question of cost-justifying usability has had entire books written about it, but what's the real bottom line? How do companies know when they've made unusable products? Customer reviews and customer purchasing data is a good start. For the most part, this data is reliable. And this Christmas, there may just be enough data to start influencing producers:

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item? 78% buy this item, 11% buy competitor B, 7% buy ...

Amazon is beginning to do some interesting things with its product purchasing data (I read the above quote looking for a webcam). As long as shopping sites' allegiance remains with the buyers, this is a good thing. We almost didn't buy Amazing Amanda because of some negative reviews we saw.

The numbers Amazon delivers about customer reviews and purchasing data is exactly the kind of thing managers understand. When they consistently get bad numbers, they'll come looking for reasons, and usability professionals will have some of the answers. That's one gift I love to give.

[1] An interesting and challenging side note: does usability even matter anymore?

Part 1 Amazing oversight: Forcing functions, Next Just like me!: Anthropomorphism, Techie toys part 3 of 3