Podcasting Kit Arrived and How shipping effects your software
I finally got my Samson Podcasting Kit. It's been a week. I'll post pictures, setup, a review and a test podcast later this week.
However, waiting on the kit reminded me of something that we may not think about when dealing with Software Design. How other services color the impression of your software. For example, when I ordered the podcasting kit on Sunday 01 April 2007 I had to pay a shipping fee of about eleven dollars. I didn't think that the fee nor the cost of the fee was outrageous. I thought I should be able to get within about five days. I was wrong. Seven to ten days is the norm. I think (and I'm guessing on this company's internal processes) that most packages use a flavor of ground shipping, for instance UPS 3 day ground, and that the kit would have been shipped from the Samson site to the store site within five days. I was using Amazon, J and R Electronics, Fry's and other online companies as the ruler for my shipping experience. I didn't account for shipping from Samson, and then from a central store to a satellite store. And I wasn't receiving updates in this age of order tracking.
So how does this apply to User Experience in Software?
- Remove additional layers to your shipping process or said another way remove latency.
- Inform the user of what's going on.
- Inform the user of when to expect their package (or data).
- Take into account that the real world will influence the experience that a user will have with your software and that they will transfer those experiences and expectations to your application.