Apple is one of the most recognized brands of our time, and I wanted to know why.
What is it about the products that have garnered them such a loyal support base? What is it about them that makes customers willing to pay premium prices to own the products?
Care.
Yes, that’s it. Care.
Over the years of product development, we got so busy building products that we forgot who we were building the products for – humans. And as we already know, care and empathy are important characteristics of human engagement.
We see it in the loving-kindness shown by mothers to their children. We also see it when complete strangers put a smile on our faces when they do something nice.
I’ve found that Apple products have a similar effect, what marketers will often call “delight”. Apple products do things other products don’t usually do – they make you smile. We probably would not have thought to tell Apple producers that we want our cellphones to greet us in the morning, but because Apple is in the business of showing care through their products, that’s exactly what they did.
But what’s the value of greeting a customer, or doing any other activity to add additional value to the customer you may ask? There’s no direct financial benefit from it, you may even argue.
Experience.
Showing users that you care about them may not lead to customers telling their peers “buy Apple products because they will say ‘hi’ to you every morning,” but it will improve the customer’s experience of the product. It will make the customer smile, and a smiling customer is more likely to result in a paying customer than not.
So, more than it being about the direct impact, it’s more about improving your product’s overall experience. Apple is a testament to how a great experience can improve your overall product perception.
