@dcancel

• 2010-10-20

  Experience Matters.

  To Google; you are a statistical note – something to be tracked, categorized and profiled. Why? Not though malice or ill intent – not even slightly – rather, it is how they aim their real business at you: Advertising. Google is not malicious, nor is it evil. Google is the logical robot who will tell you you’ve got cancer while asking for the time and not even blink. They continue interesting projects which could change humanity – but with the bedside manner of a toaster (note though – the cold, calculating nature of the projects doesn’t diminish the value).

  When a competing company’s users are statistics: show those statistics love and a human face and they will follow you to the ends of the earth. Incite passion – give them a relationship. A wise man once told me “the only way you can succeed against an entrenched player is by loving your users to death”.

  Love your customers – say you make a code hosting service – it’s hard to beat free (as is Google Code) and it’s hard to beat the fact that, yeah, they have all the basic features a code host should have – but you compete where Google can’t. You beat them in the User Interface department – you beat them with warm, inviting documentation and a well designed, inviting website. You beat them by hiring a support staff that actually answers emails and picks up the phone. (See also: “Google Gets a C- from the Better Business Bureau”)

  You compete against them by not being a cold, Spartan feature robot. You make your thing usable, you make it pleasant. You make it so that users want to come back to you again and again because each time they do they don’t feel like they just got a hug from a Craftsman workbench. You make them feel like Mom just gave them a warm hug on a Christmas day every time they use your product. Not like making out with a socket set.

  — jessenoller.com - How can you compete with Google?