Know that feeling you have when you open the box of a new product and everything is just perfect? That experience whether off-line or on-line does not happen by accident. It requires a great deal of planning and learning from mistakes. The typical small business does not devote enough effort and focus to the out of box experience as they could.
The big company off-line approach. I recently replaced my drip coffee maker with a single cup brewer that uses the single serve disposal pods. (Environmental statement: I also purchased the reusable accessory and fill it with my own coffee so I’m not throwing lots of plastic away.) The out of box experience started at the store. Nice packaging with a handle, making the somewhat large and awkward box easy to get in the cart. If the box does not make it into the cart, the whole out of box experience never really happens does it?
Upon arrival home I found the box easy to open and well packed. It took less than 10 minutes to have the new machine up and brewing my first cup of coffee. Then I started looking at the additional documentation and found it all well organized in a little folder. A nice surprise, rather than just tossed in the top of the box, which I see so often these days with consumer electronics. Start to finish it was a smooth, easy and frustration free process…or an awesome out of box experience.
Modeling and applying to on-line experiences. Over at ColorMetrix we are in the midst of a large project that is starting to rollout. So far the system has been used by a handful of people who have been involved pretty much since day one of the project two years ago. By year end there will be many handfuls of users and more to come. For everyone involved, from the users to support personnel, we have a vested interest in making the initial user experience as smooth and hassle free as we can.
If the new users struggle with the software the first time they see it, it could take months or even years to replace that first negative out of box experience. I’ll be working with the client and experience design experts to ensure this does not happen.
The little picture. Sometimes improving the out of box experience is as simple as slight changes to your packaging. Purchase the right size boxes (even if the cost a bit more) to ship your product in. Try shipping it in a white box or including your business card on the top so they know who to call if there are problems. A one page quick start guide (even from your laser printer) is better than no quick start guide.
Care to share any out of your box experiences, successes or horror stories? Comments are open jump right in 🙂