Consumers today don’t want to know “if” your company offers something. They want to know “how easy” that service is for them to use.
Not too long ago, to get the full story on a new car, you had to stop by the dealership and flip through a full color brochure. Today, with a few clicks you can get a 360-degree panoramic view of both the inside and outside of just about any new car on the market. You can pick your trim style, and color, not to mention custom options offered on every model.
But, the one thing we all know about technology is how quickly “novel” becomes “expected.” And this, Ronn Torossian says, is the literal price automobile manufacturers must pay to stay ahead of the PR game.
Torossian is the CEO of 5W Public Relations, one of the top PR firms in New York City. He has watched the once novel concept of online car shopping evolve from a few snapshots, to a full on immersion experience. “Now, people aren’t surprised by the ‘build your own’, or full view options. They expect them.” And that, Torossian says, where the rubber really meets the road.
The race is no longer about offering the service, it’s about user interface. About how easy, and intuitive a company’s interactive vehicle-building presentation is. “Today’s customer will be turned off if one company’s user interface is clunkier than the one they just used. If something is simple to understand, seamless to use, and offers that ‘wow’ factor, people really don’t appreciate being disappointed by the next option.”
The concept of assumed convenience is the bug in the ointment every business must contend with when offering technology. Consumers are no longer asking “What does it do?”, they are asking “How easy is it for me to find out?”
Torossian calls this the unspoken sixth PR question. “The industry has always been defined by who, what, when, where, and why. Now people are asking ‘how’ with increasing frequency.”
How easy is this to use, to understand, to work with. They don’t want convenience. They want to know HOW convenient your convenience is for them.
