Digital Product Ideas That Sound Brilliant At First, But Lead to Ruin

In the early 1900s, electrified water was all the rage. People believed running an electric current through a bowl of water would give it magical properties—from reinvigorating house plants to curing hangovers. When they learned this wasn’t the case, they moved on to the next idea.

Of course you’re always thinking about the next new, amazing thing you can do for our digital products. But some of your ideas will possess about as much benefit as electrified water.

Tempting, Terrible Ideas

Don’t waste time on these ideas—they’ll wreck your site or app.?

• Provide Comprehensive Help: FAQs and “Help” sections are not as helpful to users as they sound. Even if all the answers are there, users won’t read it, and they’ll continue in frustrated ignorance. There’s no explaining your way out of difficult problems.?
• Heed Stakeholder Opinion: Envisioning and developing a digital product primarily based on stakeholder opinion is a recipe for disaster. User needs should always come first—they’re the ones who use the product and determine its success, not stakeholders.?
• Offer More Features Than Your Competitors: It’s not about which product offers the most. True success comes from which product serves users’ needs the best. Sometimes doing less is actually adding more value to your product.

Don’t Waste Time

Not everything that sounds like a grand idea is one. Don’t waste your energy, time, and budget on digital ideas that don’t work. Instead, devote yourself to understanding users and their needs. That’s an idea that will never steer you wrong.

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