When I was first starting my company, a friend was also starting a company at the same time. Her husband gave her a terrific piece of advice. He told her not to let great be the enemy of good. Let’s face it, there are many circumstances where good is a completely acceptable result.
I see so many people spending precious time and resources trying to make everything perfect, regardless of the importance level. And last week during a meeting there was a great example of this syndrome’s corollary: Don’t Let Cool Be The Enemy Of Clear. This is an inclination I generally see with the newer, more entrepreneurial companies I work with, and I wanted to share a great recent example.
Background: I advise ZipFit, a company that helps men find great fitting jeans fast. ZipFit currently has one retail location (At the Shops of Northbridge if you happen to be in Chicago) and a newly launched e-commerce website. When a man visits the retail store, he answers several easy questions in the FitFinder, which is located on iPads throughout the store. Based on his answers, different jeans are recommended.
Our discussion was about FitFinder online and it went something like this:
ZF: “We know from our experience working with customers in-store that a couple of the FitFinder questions typically need a little explanation. So on our website, we’re going to make some cool videos that people can click on to have the questions explained in more detail.”
Q: What might be wrong with this picture?
A: Maybe there’s an easier way to solve the problem.
Easier, faster (but definitely less cool) recommendation: Instead of spending the money and time on videos and asking customers to take extra time to click and watch, re-write the questions based on the in-store learnings.
I know, I’m no fun at all. But this will be easier, cheaper and, most importantly of all, easier for the customer.
What I love is that ZipFit has been using their retail location like a learning lab and they have been living the life of qualitative researchers. They really know their customers now. And they have seen firsthand what works so well about their concept and where there is room for improvement.
I am so excited to see them able to use their in-store learnings to make their online presence even stronger and more customer friendly! Great fitting jeans for men fast!