Product Behavior

“The Story of the Product” is a simple tool I use to get a feel for how well my clients know what their product or service is supposed to be. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank that describes key aspects:

The product is a _____________,
which provides _____________.
The user thinks about the product as _____________,
interacts with it _____________,
and sees information like _____________
presented _____________.
Unlike current methods of _____________,
like those provided by the competitors _____________,
this new product _____________.

This version is very gizmo-oriented; I change it around if we’re talking about a more static product like a kitchen implement, or applying it to the design of a service. I bring something like this to project kick-off meetings, or even sales meetings, and try to fill it in as we discuss the project. Sometimes I make a big printout and we try to fill it in as a group. We’ve even assigned it as homework for prospective clients to discuss internally before meeting with us.

Some of the blanks usually remain blank; there’s always some aspect we don’t know early on in an engagement. Which blanks they are tell me a lot about the client and the project. How well does the client understand the feature set? The competitive advantage? The consumer’s experience? Some of these are more important than others for a given product, and the Story can help give the marketing and design teams good direction. It’s also instructive to see where a client has internal disagreement — maybe not everyone at the company agrees on who the main competition is, or how the consumer should think of the product.

When put into the context of the product Archetype, the Story of the Product serves as the germ of a product’s “biography.” Where it comes from, why it is the way it is, what it’s like to interact with. All the stuff we really should know before we can convince consumers the product is worth their time.

Question for you: Do you know your product’s story? Which parts are most relevant to your consumer?

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