Hi Jared - and thnx, I remember reading this article. In fact it helped to crystalize some thought I had regarding measuring product and feature utility and reconciling it against effort (the hurdle) of change. I almost redirected my thesis in this direction but that would have been a monumental timeline catastrophe.
Maybe I can clarify my two concerns: 1 When introducing a new, non mission critical feature, is it worthwhile to call this our overtly on the page? Obviously you would want this to be a one time display... I think the notion presented by Will, "if it's a catch up feature - let it soft-launch". I think it can be even more specific - based upon whether it is new or a catchup feature to your specific audience. That puts the emphasis on the user's knowledge and less on brand positioning. 2 Is there benefit in the user's discovery of the feature? Much like management wanting buy in from staff for some decisions (having a role in the decision process helps assure investment in the outcome) will the feature stick better if we tell them about it, or if they discover it. The later would acknowledge that users are subject to more than pure utility. Mark On Wednesday, January 23, 2008, at 09:32PM, "Jared M. Spool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >On Jan 23, 2008, at 10:15 AM, Mark Schraad wrote: > >> If your are introducing a new feature on a consumer web site, does >> it always need to be overtly called out? Particularly if it a catch >> up feature (your competition already has something similar). I am >> wondering if there is benefit in letting the user discover a cool >> feature (any behaviorists out there?) - as opposed to directing >> their attention to it? Has anyone had this conversation or have >> insights to the issue? > >Hi Mark, > >I've written about this topic too. (This week feels like revisiting >my entire publication library!) > >Designing Embraceable Change >http://www.uie.com/articles/embraceable_change/ > >Curious what you think, > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
