Welcome to the rest of the year. If we’ve learned anything these past few years, it is the omnipresent need to create content and gadgets that are great – that provide value to your customers and your clients. And that leads us into a conversation that starts with the smartphone experience.
If you have an iPhone, you know all about the black jiggly X. It’s a symbol of obsolescence and it’s what you see when you want to rid yourself of an app you don’t like or don’t value anymore. One punch of that black X and the app is gone, finis, done for, see ya.
And as I’ve lived with apps as a user and as the head of a company that builds them, it has occurred to me that the consumer tolerance for things that don’t work perfectly the first time you try them has gone WAY down.
Blame Steve Jobs. As we discussed in this space when he stepped down from the head office at Apple, the guy has spoiled us. Apple’s gadgets are brilliant – not just in their design and elegance – but because they always function beautifully, intuitively, and simply the first time you try them.
As a result, the window for creating a product that isn’t quite ready for opening night may be rapidly closing. I feel this intensely when I try out a new restaurant for the first time. If that initial experience is not right – the food, the service, the wait, the experience – I may never go back. Second chances are eroding rapidly because there are so many other places where I can spend my money on food.
I also feel this when I download an app. If it doesn’t work just right the first time I try it, if I have to wait too long for it to kick on, or if it just isn’t clear or user-friendly, it’s so easy to press down, see the black jiggly X, give it a push, say “No Thanks” on rating the app, and it’s gone. Out of my life. Forever.
So what does this mean for the rest of you who aren’t creating apps and software? Or even starting restaurants, manufacturing cars, or shoe stores?
Well, if you’re in radio, I’m thinking that the day is coming to an end when you could sign on a “beta station” that wasn’t really ready for market. If your new format or new jock lineup or new music position or new production isn’t clean, shiny, researched, and ready for prime time, your target audience may just push your black jiggly X.
First impressions matter, perhaps more than ever. Because with all the new products and innovations that come at us on a daily basis, the pressure is on media and entertainment outlets because of the many options available to the consuming public.
New TV shows are cancelled after one week. HP terminated its TouchPad tablet just a couple of months after it debuted. Microsoft killed its Kin line of cell phones just weeks after it was first released.
The bar’s been raised. Permanently. Consumers are angsty, and they don’t have to put up with things that weren’t very good in the first place. In fact, they are insulted by hardware, software, and other products that were promoted one way, while delivering something much less than what was promised.
“Good enough” is no longer good enough.
The next time you’re ready to launch that new and improved morning show or that hot new format, consider the changing mood of the consumer. As an industry, we have simply got to get better in order to effectively compete. You know they’re saying this every day at R.I.M., Microsoft, Nokia, and HP – brands that have fallen behind in recent years. Everyone in radio should be saying it, too.
If we don’t start making “quality – not crap” our mantra, we’d better be ready for that black jiggly X. A lot of ’em.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I couldn’t agree more Fred. With this being a society of “instant gratifiction” a new morning show really needs to consider putting their egos aside and going into the production studio and “doing” a few shows. Want the realism of being on the air? Put the ego aside once again and do 2-4AM during the week. Even the Dream Team practiced before the Olympics.
Good points all, Danny. A more professional approach would be a great starting point. Thanks for chiming in.
As I read these types of stories, I can’t help but think that nothing is new about any of these assessments. It has always been this way: fickle consumers, first impressions, the only thing that matters is me… Day after week after month after year after decade people have always been this way yet “researchers” try to portray everything in a “new” light for something that has never changed. It’s like they’ve all of the sudden been awakened to the fact of some grand evolution and if “we” don’t start trying harder or follow the new path to technological enlightenment, we won’t be relavent anymore. It’s just new spin on old knowledge that no one can quite pin down. So, go on and prognosticate because someone will be willing to buy the elixer of choice for this day when nothing’s really changed. The kicker, no matter how you percieve the consumer/world/whatever, you’ll never be able to pinpoint precisely the answer because there just isn’t one. Throw a dart and move on. That is all.
Dirk, you are right. The old saw “You only have one chance to make a good first impression” proves that. My point is that the window of tolerance for consumers is shrinking. We have more choice than ever before and with that comes the freedom to be very selective. I believe that is where we are now, and the pressure to create quality products has never been greater. Thanks for taking the time.