Searching for simplicity: Consumers want technology to make life easier

Observation:  Citing a study by Ketchum, a story in today’s Marketing Daily suggests that consumers want technology make their lives easier.  Click here to see the story.

Implications:   It might sound like this report is stating the obvious, but the fact of the matter is many companies have completely overlooked this one simple request of the consumer.  We tend to think of innovation as adding another feature, or more bells and whistles… when the reality is that the best innovation can occur when we take something away.  Think iPod (reducing the many buttons and controls of previous music players to a single button and a dial).  Think Jiffy Lube (reducing the previously complex process of taking your car in for service to a ten-minute, oil-change-only experience).

Is your website filled with bells and whistles?  Or does it simplify the relationship between you and your consumer?  How about the in-store experience?  Would the best innovations mean adding some elements, or taking some away?

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.