Thursday, June 17, 2004
Essential? Premier?
If you live here in the US, you've probably seen a commercial or two about some medication. They all seem to have lines like, "Ask your doctor is Remedex is right for you". They all seem to show people who are very happy, presumably because they've been taking RemedyX. However, the commercial never says anything about what the drug does. It's supposed to get you to think, "Hey, those people are happy. If I take Remedex, I'll be happy too. I'll call my doctor right now." But, it just doesn't work that way. The ad should tell me what the drug is for. Then, if I think it'll work, I'll ask my doctor.
One of the RSS feeds I subscribe to is Microsoft Downloads. It tells me when MS has new files that are available. Granted, I'm not interested in most of them, but given the number of files MS posts, this means I don't have to wade through a list of old things.
Today I got notice that two new downloads are available, "Premier Datasheet" and "Essential Datasheet". The descriptions tell me nothing about what the downloads are about, just like the drug commercials tell me nothing about the medication.
What does this mean for you as a developer? If you create a product, tell your users about it in your advertising. If what a specific feature does isn't clear from the menu or tooltip, you're doing something wrong. Be clear in your descriptions.
The downloads turned out to be descriptions of paid support options. It would have been to make the descriptions, "Premire Support Datasheet" and "Essential Support Datasheet".
One of the RSS feeds I subscribe to is Microsoft Downloads. It tells me when MS has new files that are available. Granted, I'm not interested in most of them, but given the number of files MS posts, this means I don't have to wade through a list of old things.
Today I got notice that two new downloads are available, "Premier Datasheet" and "Essential Datasheet". The descriptions tell me nothing about what the downloads are about, just like the drug commercials tell me nothing about the medication.
What does this mean for you as a developer? If you create a product, tell your users about it in your advertising. If what a specific feature does isn't clear from the menu or tooltip, you're doing something wrong. Be clear in your descriptions.
The downloads turned out to be descriptions of paid support options. It would have been to make the descriptions, "Premire Support Datasheet" and "Essential Support Datasheet".
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