As a company, we exist because we offer some sort of product or service that solves a problem. By solving that problem, we deliver happiness to whomever our core customer/constituency is.
When I sign up for a new app the first thing that I’m look for is… does this fulfill its promise of solving the problem that I have or how long do I have to wait to get my problem solved? How long do I have wait for the happiness? I call the time from when you sign up for an app to when it actually delivers on solving the problem the happiness gap.
The private town car service startup Uber is classic for getting this so right. Their goal is that after 5 mins of ordering the car phone that it should arrive. Once it happens, you feel like a million bucks. BOOM. Happiness. Uber gets that what they’re doing is bigger than providing transportation services.
The design ecommerce platform Fab gets this too. You’d order an item and it’d take 3-4 weeks for it to arrive at your door. It was just too long. I’d forget that I’d ordered something from Fab. The happiness gap was too big. That’s why they’ve invested in their own warehouses and taking inventory so they can be more in control of the UX of shipping and fulfillment.
What service or product do you deliver to your users? How can you expedite the delivery of happiness to your users?
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 