The Apple Sticker Effect

Have you ever noticed the little sticker on an apple?

Mine says "Gala #4135"

That little sticker seems pretty harmless, and I am sure grocers have a really good reason for sticking it on every. single. piece. of. fruit in the store

But what about me, the end consumer?

Every time I pull an apple out of my fridge, I have to first DIG my nails into it. Heaven help me if I recently cut my nails

Then roll up the little bad boy and vigorously flick my fingers until it flys off to a distant wall

Now I am staring at my apple, with a little dent in it from where my fingers dug in

A stark reminder that this apple wasn't just picked off an orchard tree by a plump, happy farmer in overalls

But was part of a global supply chain of apple slingers

The apple still tastes good. And I now know it's a gala apple

But that little sticker robbed me of my little apple-eating fantasy

And this happens every time I eat an apple in America

(I grew up in India and have never seen a sticker on a piece of produce there)

Why am I telling you this?

Because whatever YOU sell, also has an apple sticker on it

There, I said it

It's that small little thing that slightly inconveniences your customers while buying it. Or annoys them every time they use it

It could be your sign up process. Or the initial onboarding experience. Or the automatic payment process. Or a tiny button somewhere that doesn't do what someone thinks it should do.

It could be one of many things. But you can be sure they silently annoy thousands of people everyday

Don't know what it is for your company?

No problem. Ask anyone from your Customer Success, Education or Sales Eng team. They have a very good idea what it is.

At this point, you might say,

"But all the other stores are using apple stickers too!"

Sure

But one day, an apple seller without the pesky stickers will come along and disrupt things

People will start buying her apples. They'll like them more.

And they won't even know why they like them better

Uber ripped the apple sticker off finding and paying for a cab. They made getting a cab dependable

Slack ripped the apple stickers off of team chat. They made talking to your coworkers fun.

In response, you might research her pricing strategy, her product innovation and her marketing. And you won't find the answer

Because you won't notice that her apples don't have stickers

Because you don't notice the stickers on your own apples anymore

You're completely oblivious to them

That will be too late

Because people will quickly adapt to not having stickers on their apples

Go find those apple stickers in your offer and rip them off. Today.

(This post was inspired by eating apples every day during quarantine and by this incredible TED Talk by Tony Fadell)