understanding value to the user — a parable with ketchup

Let’s say you’re in a fast food place that offers ketchup, in packets.

Not that I’m saying you’d ever really find yourself in a fast food place. I mean come on, that stuff will kill you. But, let’s pretend.

Let’s set the context — You’re there at the counter and you need a small amount of ketchup, maybe just enough for the small fries you have. Maybe it’s late; you’ve been out with the friends, beverages were consumed, and maybe you’re a little less than razor sharp. In an unfamiliar neighborhood where you pay first at the pump and all the restrooms are sketchy they also don’t have ketchup just laying out for everyone to take; no tub with a pump, no bin of little packets. A sad statement on the neighborhood, or the manager’s compassion. And there you are, at the counter.

You’ve composed yourself, and you ask in your best What seems to be the problem officer? voice you politely ask the Generation Z-er behind the counter for a packet of ketchup, please.

He smiles, dips under the counter and invariably produces a fistful of ketchup packets. Something jarring happens in your mind, but before you know what’s going on or how to pause it, he’s delivered All The Packets to your hand, and now you have a lot of ketchup.

What just happened here?

Understanding the user, and providing value

As a UX professional, I advocate for the user. IN this case, I advocate for you, standing at the fast food counter. I endeavor to understand you, and often I represent your interests in stakeholder conversations where you or no actual user is present. In our parable, the you want a specific amount of ketchup, a packet. For your fries. The attendant behind the counter may have only heard the word “ketchup” and ignored everything else. Or, he may have thought if one packet was good, ten would be great, and further thought he was delivering amazing value and a “wow” experience.

It could be that every other after-the-bars-close customer who’s ever asked him for ketchup wanted more than one packet, so he was reacting with convention in mind.

But really, my money is on the former and not the latter, with a possible dose of “how do I keep this customer happy and away from me?” in there somewhere.

As a former Sizzler server, ask me how I know.

So now you have about nine ketchup packets too many, and are the reluctant custodian of unrequested foodstuffs your parents taught you never to waste.

You did not have a great experience. Your need was misunderstood; a simple clunky rubric ( one-is-good-so-10-is-better ) was used instead of actual empathy, discovery, a checkpoint, or knowledge.

Awkward feelings, wasted ketchup, money down the garbage can.

Next time we go to a taco place.

Understanding user value

Here is a partial list of things not valuable to the user:

• ten times the amount of something they specifically requested
• most things they didn’t ask for
• most things totally valuable to business, that you wish or dream were valuable to the user
• ten packets of ketchup, ever and always

It’s important not to fuck up delivering value to the user.

Beyond our fries and ketchup scenario, there’s tendency to do this same thing in our web experiences. We provide so many options, details, and pathways, put it on the user to sort it all out, make a choice, and select what’s best for them, and talk ourselves into calling that “providing value.”

One scenario here is there’s a failure to provide what the user wants. This means a bad experience, which can translate into bad stuff for your business. Other scenario is a lot of cognitive load, sorting through different choices.

Worse case is they have what amounts to ten packets of ketchup and all the cognitive dissonance that goes along with that; they don’t come back, they give money and brand equity to your competitors, they shit talk your employees or biz practice on social media, and they throw out all of your ketchup one fistful at a time. All of this because your (metaphorical) counter attendant ( really, you as a brand ) misunderstood what was valuable to the customer.

Understanding how to deliver value to your user, the nuances between what they ask for and what they want, making better selections for them up front and minimizing cognitive load, are all better options, less lazy options than dumping a ton of choices on them and calling the job done. No one wants to sort through 28 different kinds of jam for their favorite, and no one wants 10 packets of ketchup for their small fries.