June 2009 Issue #2
Time factor as the new goldmine in a hectic world
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.
More to think about
How to get started
Slow payment makes shoppers wait
Start-up time is new success criteria
Hard science becomes quick reading
Editors of Scientific American, the world-respected science magazine, recognise that they have just a few seconds to ensure people actually read the articles. Only this way, will they generate a loyal readership.
To meet this time demand, they have devised a way of communicating the magazine’s highly technical information quickly and clearly.
Easy reading
Articles are accompanied by ‘key concepts’ - small text boxes that summarise the article in clear and easy to understand bullet points.
This doesn’t just save readers time; it also prompts them to read the full article and spend more time on the magazine.
Slow payment makes shoppers wait
Here’s an example of bad time factor design, if ever there was one.
When the chip n’ pin system was introduced to Denmark in 2004, it was clear nobody had considered how long it would take for shoppers to actually use the system. Time factor had been under prioritised in the design process.
Wasted seconds
As a result, the system was almost unworkable. People had to wait between 10 and 20 seconds for the transaction to complete – precious, wasted seconds they would rather spend elsewhere.
Frustrated shoppers
Not surprisingly, consumers and retailers voted with their feet. People quickly returned to the old, magnetic strip system, which took just two to four seconds to complete a transaction. Only 1.1% of Dankort payments during the first three months of 2004 were made using the chip.
Today a new design, which completes a transaction in just a few seconds, is on the streets. Thanks to its time factor design, it’s now the preferred method of payment in Denmark.
Start-up time is new success criteria
Nikon’s COOLPIX S620, released in February 2009, is a great example of a product that has successfully incorporated time factor in its design.
Nikon could see that many users complained about the wasted minutes – and photo opportunities – resulting from the slow start-up time on some digital cameras.
So they made time efficiency a key design element.
Fastest on market
Nikon’s new model starts up in just 0.7 seconds – the fastest in its class – instead of the whole 1.5 seconds it can take some cameras to start up.
As a result of considering time factor, Nikon created a product that meets the user’s time needs and offers a strong brand proposition.
The four laws of time factor design
1.
Respect user time
Don’t take your user’s time for granted. Your user’s time is precious, so start acknowledging this fact. Consider time factor from the start of your development process.
2.
Measure user time
Assess how much time your user will grant you – and use it wisely. Calculate how long an average user will spend on your offering. This time frame should underlie all your design decisions.
3.
Expand user time
Deliver a time-efficient experience and you might just succeed in convincing your user to spend on your solution. This means more time on your brand.
4.
Save user time
All users want to save time, so make sure your offering does exactly that. Time efficiency is the only way to compete in our fast-paced world.