Out of Box Experience

Out of Box Experience Overview

In the last several years marketers have realized that the first interaction with a new product can set the tone, for how a consumer feels about their new product (and the brand of the product as well). Apple is probably one of the companies that is best known for creating a wonderful out of box experience by simplifying the experience and ensuring that the customer has as few, and as intuitive steps as possible, to make their new gadget work the way that it was designed. And at least in Apple's case, it's become one of their hallmarks and has helped them to command a significant price premium over competitors' products.

As some of the high-tech products become more complex, simplifying the process of setting up the product and getting it working has grown more challenging for the typical end-user. Many premium products have responded by color-coding the cables that connect to different pieces with the same color-coding convention. They've also included "open this first" with simplified directions that prods people like me, who often shun directions, to actually follow the directions because they are so simply and direct. Companies have seen great benefits by having fewer fully-functional products returned as "inoperable", and by seeing scores for measures such as "ease of setup" increase - thus keeping the customers happy and reducing unnecessary returns. This has become a type of research that is often called simply "oo-bee" which is simply short for 'Out Of Box Experience'.

Out of Box Experience Research

This is a very interesting type of research that often includes different types of researchers than for a typical project. Human Factors Engineers (HFE) are trained to understand how human beings interact with machines - and this is part of their purview. There is often a partnering between a market research expert and an HFE. This type of research is often done in a special type of facility in which cameras record every keystroke and where the respondents' eyes look, and for how long. Often an HFE will be in the room with the respondent as they unbox a new product that they are interested in purchasing - so it's not just an academic exercise for the respondent. Everything about the experience is scrutinized - did the text communicate clearly - would another word have made it more clear? Did the diagram represent the product as you saw it? Were the steps introduced in a logical order? Where you expecting confirmations at different points? What else could we have done to have made this process even easier?

This is not a type of research that is required on every type of product. Probably only on new categories of devices that are reasonably complex, however the payoff can be substantial, especially when your product starts to cross Geoffrey Moore's "Chasm" and the simplicity seeking, mass market of customers begins to use your product - that's when you really must have worked through the kinks that the early market is willing to preserver through.

The types of changes that can come out of a process like this include:

Labeling or color coding ports on the device
Changes in the documentation that comes with the device
The addition of a "Quick Start" set of instructions that leave the details until later, but get the new owner through the installation with as few details as necessary.
Simplifications to the user interface of the device - if one exists