Does your product have too many features?
Parents choosing a first phone for children ages 8 to 12 now face a growing range of options between no phone and a full smartphone. Several leading kids’ phones come without a browser, social media, or an app store. Parents decide how much of the internet reaches their child from the beginning.
For leaders responsible for a product, platform, or internal tool, the “dumb phone” is an important example. Teams often confuse the number of features released with what customer’s really want. When the first experience requires too many choices, new users may never reach the rest of the product.
Adoption Begins With Confidence
One of my past innovation consulting projects involved creating a phone designed for seniors. Its buttons displayed photos of loved ones. Pressing a photo called that person. Simple as that.
The simple design replaced recall with recognition. Users did not have to remember a phone number or navigate through a tiny menu. The phone helped them feel capable instantly.
Other companies are now doing something similar. Gabb was founded to sell devices without an open browser, social media, or an app store. Its lineup advances by age, from a basic watch for children 5-12 to a more capable model for ages 9-14. The Bark Phone uses a similar approach. Families can begin with talk and text, then add more functions when they are ready.
What both companies give parents is control over the pace of access. A child uses the device, while a parent decides when its capabilities expand.
The same issue appears when companies onboard employees, introduce customers to a platform, or give an aging parent a new device. Someone can have access to every feature and still feel unable to get started. Think feature overload.
Adding Bells and Whistles May Hurt the User Experience
In a 2021 Nature study, researchers asked people to stabilize a wobbly Lego structure. Fifty-nine percent added bricks even though removing one brick for free would have solved the problem. Researchers observed the same tendency when people revised essays, recipes, and travel itineraries.
Product roadmaps reward the same behavior. A new feature looks like progress. It protects against competitors adding more features. Removing features feels risky.
A more useful measure is the number of choices a new customer faces before accomplishing something that matters. The goal is a first experience that builds confidence, not creates potential confusion.
Design for the First Useful Result
Leaders can change the launch discussion by making the first useful result explicit:
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- Define the first useful task. Choose the one thing a new user should be able to complete before encountering advanced options. Design that path around the least confident customer.
- Make the path visible. Replace codes, menu paths, and steps people must remember with choices they can quickly and easily see and select.
- Stage the other features. Decide which features can wait until week two and who controls when they appear, whether that’s the customer or someone supporting them.
A company can keep advanced options in the product without placing all of them in front of a new user. Sequencing lets customers learn the product in stages.
Success should be measured by a person completing one useful task. That’s how they’ll feel capable enough to continue using or doing whatever you’re providing.
Simplicity wins almost every time.
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