September 24, 2006

Brand & Usability

The majority of usability, marketing and brand professionals are well aware of the power that user experience has on a brand. The physical and virtual elements with which your customers use to interact with your brand, and the quality of that interaction, can affect a brand positively or negatively. From Skype's desktop interface to Starbuck drink names, these instances of interaction can impact a brands ability to affect buying behavior ... otherwise known as brand equity. This "experience:brand equity" relationship is known within UX and Marketing disciplines to varying degrees.

What if we were to look at this relationship in reverse? Does the power of a brand affect product usability? If brand equity is the ability to influence user/buyer behavior, and if usability is a measure of the degree to which users can achieve a specific task or objective, then it stands to reason that a brand can indeed affect usability.

Here are a few anecdotal tests of this theory:
  • Apple Products - Some of the brand associations created and furthered by our friends at Apple definitely affect product usability. Associations of "easy-to-use", "integrated solution", "cool", "creative", "counter-culture" and "different" will definitely shape how a user subjectively perceives and rates the usefulness and effectiveness of Apple products. By creating and fostering these associations, Apple has in fact created a dynamic whereby users are almost peer pressured into thinking Apple products are in fact highly usable. If a user didn't see these products as usable, then they may not be able to identify themselves with the Apple brand identity. Instead, they wouldn't cool, sexy or different. If they were, then they would adopt the mob mentality and 'get it'. (Note - I use both Mac and PC products)
  • GAP Jeans - How many times have you seen a friend/colleague/family member proudly wearing $50 jeans from the GAP that do not fit? Why would someone do that? Well, they very well might have seen the GAP ads positioning the GAP brand as sexy, young, hip and too-cool-to-care. They might have also heard a sales associate mention there is a GAP jean for every body type. The message being sent, and the reason your friend seems to be perpetually sucking in their belly to reduce the pain caused by their jeans, is the apparent power of the GAP brand (read: brand equity), its messaging and positioning have combined to make a very powerful set of lenses through which consumers view GAP products. If there is a jean for every body type, and if GAP is sexy/young/hip/too-cool-to-care, then consumers MUST be able to find a jean that fits if they want to be 'somebody' and self-identify with GAP brand associations. (Note - I do not own GAP jeans as they really aren't made for people with booty and legs bigger than those of really long distance runner.)
OK. Granted, these are just 2 examples that suffer from a lack of supporting qualitative or quantitative research. The logic is solid though. A product/company brand can indeed affect product usability, even if only its initial or perceived usability.

I wonder if this explains why I REALLY like Nonfat Grande Tazo Chai lattes ...

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

insightful

4:39 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that is really insightful. good blog dad

9:52 a.m.  

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