Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

Accidental Technologist

ABC Family – Terrible User Experience from a Company Who Should Know Better

Somehow I was added to an email list from ABC Family, specifically Freeform. This is a channel that airs children’s TV shows. Much of their content is terrible but I’m not their target audience.

I have been receiving emails about new programming being added to their lineup. Our daughter is now 18 and outgrew what they have to offer, so when their latest email came in, I decided to unsubscribe. Here is their message to me:

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This is terrible! This is a terrible experience as a user. Here’s what bothers me:

  1. I’m trying to unsubscribe from their mailing list. The title indicates I am being added to another list, a Do Not Email list. What?
  2. They’ve recorded my request. Why? Don’t procrastinate, do it now.
  3. They need up to 10 business days to remove me, add me, or whatever for processing. 10 days? How are they handling my request, carrier pigeon? We’ve all belonged to email lists before, we know how unsubscribing should work..it should happen NOW.

This single interaction with ABC Family has stuck in my mind for a while. It has left a lasting impression.

Leave a positive lasting impression with your customers. If they decide they don’t want to do business with you any longer, don’t burn the bridge..maybe they’ll be back at some other time. Maybe they will recommend you to a friend. If you burn bridges, they will be gone for good.

The Best User Experience is the Simple User Experience

Bunn

We recently started using a Bunn coffee maker. The design of the unit is really simple, no fancy controls to figure out. No time to keep resetting after the power goes out. No keeping track of how long we have left until it automatically shuts off. Just fill with water, turn on and in about 1 minute, a fresh pot of coffee. It’s the best morning brewer we’ve ever had.

The simplicity of Bunn is immediately apparent when opening the box. This is what we were greeted by when we opened the box.

The software we create, regardless of platform, should be this simple. Show me how to get started. No long and boring tutorials here, no complicated user on-boarding. I think we can all learn a bit about user experience here from a brick and mortar business.