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What Connie says ties in with what someone else said about repeat customers.
I have a 17 year old son, and we both love gadgets and technology, so as far as being techno savvy goes, I'd rate myself as a an 8 or so. I am also a senior tech writer at a bleeding edge bio-tech company that makes industry leading products that combine the most advanced technology in biology, chemistry, robotics, photography, data processing. Even granted that, I have not been able to figure out how to get contact syncing to work properly on my smartphone running Android 2.2.1. (The two times I've synced, I've lost data.) My wife is a software engineer with an MA from Cal Poly, SLO, and neither she nor I could figure out how to un-sync her Android from the initial Google account with which it was synced. I haven't been able to find any comprehensive documentation anywhere--and syncing is essential functionality! The upshot of this is that, as soon as I am can afford to do so, I will switch from Android to iPhone (or possibly Windows).
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Connie Giordano
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012 8:02 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: documentation going away
Agreed, which doesn't make it any less short-sighted than any of the other tactics companies often take to make the quarterly sales goals. If user experience really is the watchword for 2012, I suggest senior management is really a long way from understanding how it works and what it means to their product management strategy (including training sales people to explain the most basic features to someone who obviously is replacing older technology).
I'd be curious to see what the customer satisfaction levels are for products that limit their support to a quick start guide and community forums.
I have no interest in joining a community forum for my phone, it is not the center of my world, and I'd rather spend what little time I have for visiting forums on topics that are more important to me (to each his own I guess). I don't know how many other consumers feel this way, but I'm pretty certain I'm not the only one out there. And this goes for all sorts of products, not just phones. Companies putting the effort behind creating a good product experience understand this,do the audience analysis, and provide documentation in multiple ways. They just seem to be few and far between.
MTC
Connie
On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> I think the sales figures for whatever phone the manufacturer shipped
> last year with the same level of documentation constitutes the main data.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Connie Giordano" <
> connie -at- therightwords -dot- com>
>
> It's kind of presumptious to say "most users don't want that" since it
> totally depends on the product, the company's support strategy and the
> experience level of the user. Perhaps most companies think (or hope)
> most users want that since it's probably a lot cheaper up front, but I
> haven't found any kind of consumer research that says users are
> satisfied with such an approach. Can you provide some data to back up your statement?
>
>
>
>
--
Connie P. Giordano
Principal Consultant
The Right Words of NC, LLC
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" - Walt Disney ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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