The First 24

Another subject that has come up in company meetings is the concept of the First 24.  Something we have all encountered whenever using a new product, piece of software or even a new car.  Those first 24 hours help to make or break a User's perspective of a product, if you can't win the User over in that time you may not over time, as the saying goes you only have one chance to make a first impression.

Consider the time taken to install a product, if the install process is onerous, complex or unintelligable in parts Users won't proceed, the install process is really the first contact a User has with a product.  Forget all that fancy packaging, its all to get eyes on a rack in the store, and with a lot of software being sold online these days it doesn't matter as much as reviews, and if Users can't install your product then bad reviews will follow.  If you follow the Amazon model and have a rating system, then most people are not going to buy software that has bad reviews, future Users who do research online will look for comments from other people.  If there are numerous comments about installation issues or problems, or people looking for advice and help on forums, that information will be there and can be a first negative to potential Customers.

Once past install is the Out of the Box experience adequate?  Is the product usable from the get-go or is there need for Customization?  When I have used software I often like to just get in and check it out, basically my tester's instincts to do a post-install review - is everything in place and working.  Can I start the product, access the help screens, am I going to get a license or registration  notification right away, these are things I want to know.  I may even start clicking around on screens and check out menus to see what is where, and if its understandable to me before I've gone into the manual or tutorials in-depth.  Problems at this stage will probably engender a support call, or a search on forums or through an internet search engine to see if someone else has the same issue.  If it can be fixed easily or needs an update I often forgive updates, after all I work with Windows and software, there are always updates to be had and its normal - so I may forgive that.  What if the software has a nasty crash?  That tends to be irritating, and if it can't be fixed or has a large number of steps to fix then my view of the product goes down, I shouldn't need to go through a lot of configuration to get something working, unless it is a complex product in which case I know this up front, or I am engaged with a consultant to help me out.  If I have gotten past installation and the first use then I'm going to be happy and have a positive view of the product, this is a good test to run in addition to any others, if you have a User Acceptance Test it will incorporate these kinds of things to make sure it will meet your Users expections and make their first 24 a good experience.

I mentioned using a car earlier, and let me close with the best example I can come up with, while comparing software to a car is not really the best example one can make the steps one goes through to purchase a car and software is the same.  When you pick up your new car you want it clean and ready for you, maybe with a new tank of gas, but there should still be that new car smell inside and the mileage should be similar to what it was in the test drive or what was needed to get the car off the delivery truck.  Still, when you get that car and sit in it when its yours for the first time, drive it off the lot and home you expect it to be smooth, smell nice and run well until you get it home.  The first 24 in your car should be a good smelling, smooth and happy experience to make you feel good about putting down all that money on the car, just as that experience should be nice so should software, but without the new car smell.

(Sorry to dissappoint you Jack Bauer fans but yes, it was intentional that I not mention him at all, well until now to mention that I did not mention him.)