Time factor as the new goldmine in a hectic world
More to think about
Right this second, you’re probably debating how long to spend on Thinkaboutit. Five minutes? Or five seconds?
Your reaction will depend on how well we’ve tackled one of the most important - yet also most ignored - competitive parameters of product and service development today: time factor.
Time factor in brief
If form factor is the physical size and shape of a solution, time factor is the extent to which a solution meets user time demands – the time users are willing to spend on a design before giving it the thumbs up or down.
In our increasingly fast-paced world, where pressure to do more with less is never ending, time demand on products, services and communications is high.
The forgotten parameter
Yet few companies and organisations consider time factor adequately when developing their offerings. Often it’s first discussed after implementation.
Why? Time is invisible. As opposed to form factor, which we can see and touch, time factor is intangible and therefore not an intuitive part of the design process.
The result is failed ventures, plummeting consumer satisfaction and weak brand propositions: newspapers so thick, you leave them unread. Ads so difficult to understand, you ignore them. Laptops so slow to start up, you don’t use them. Or online shops with so many steps, you choose another supplier.
Create time efficiency
It’s not just about making solutions faster, although in today’s hectic world this is a must.
In products and services, it’s about creating time-efficient experiences that ensure users don’t waste a single second, or worse: become frustrated and walk away. In communication, it’s mainly about ensuring messages comes across in the time allocated by readers or viewers.
Ask yourself: what are my user’s time demands? how long will the user spend on my product? How well does my solution perform in this time frame?
Make time-efficiency a success criteria from the outset. Otherwise your solution won’t perform in the long run.
You can even win time
If you’re really clever, you will increase the time users spend on your solution. Time-efficient experiences encourage users to spend more time on your offering, often as opposed to at all.
Design a user manual that’s quick to read and easy to understand, for example, and users will read it, not just browse through it. You win time and take advantage of a prime branding opportunity.
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