Products That Speak For Themselves

We rarely see Apple ads and campaigns around its new iphone features.

First, there are too many changes and optimisations that it would be impossible to consolidate it all, but more importantly, they don’t need to say anything because the product speaks for itself.

It is always tempting for start-ups and founders to want to share every single detail about their new features, improvements, and progress. We see it in the “build in public” movement. It is a natural tendency to want to feel seen, heard, and understood.

But the best products don’t have to promote their features, because they can be understood through user intuition.

In the case of Apple products, I find myself using new features without realising it because they are seamlessly incorporated into user flows that just work. They don’t require any understanding, or “figuring it out”.

Taken to the extreme: Apple products bypass cognitive processing all together.

What this means for the user is easier onboarding, faster time to value, and instant delight.

For Apple, this means lower cost of acquisition, activation, and retention.

The Art of Magic.

Apple has undoubtedly mastered the art of user experience. Part of it is design, part of it is engineering, but most of it is magic.

Magic is making what seems impossible possible, and to make it invisible to the user.

If the user knows everything, it is no longer magic.

other observation: as soon as Apple releases new products and features, there seems to be a sudden quest by the media and Youtube influencers to uncover them all. Like uncovering the secrets of a magic trick.

Why, therefore, do we always try to make everything so obvious?

Probably because most products can’t speak for themselves.

Most products need marketing to compensate for their lack of ability to communicate independently.

But what if instead of investing in more marketing, we invested more in making products more intuitive instead?

Products would not need a marketing department to communicate, and the finance department would thank us for it.

But more importantly: we would create more magic.