Weblog

How much should you listen to your audience after a redesign?

Posted in: by: Mario Garcia

Mar 25, 2009
01:43 AM

One of my favorite stories that I repeat often to redesign clients is one my father told me after his redesign of the Des Moines Register newspaper. Four days after the paper launched the redesign, a frantic editor called him extremely concerned about the three hundred or so calls they received from readers who hated the redesign. My father instructed the editor to run out to the nearest liquor store and get a bottle of champagne.  When the editor asked why my father told him that only getting three hundred “hate it” calls from a circulation of over 150,000 was cause to celebrate.

This past week I’ve seen numerous updates from my friends frustrated with the new Facebook design and wanting the old one back. And they’re not alone. The company itself has received over 600,000 complaints and there’s been a fair share of commentary regarding the redesign on the blogosphere. But more than the actual elements of the redesign, what’s piqued my interest this past week was Mr. Zuckerberg’s reaction to the criticism:

From Gawker.com

A tipster tells us that Zuckerberg sent an email to Facebook staff reacting to criticism of the changes: “He said something like ‘the most disruptive companies don’t listen to their customers.’” Another tipster who has seen the email says Zuckerberg implied that companies were “stupid” for “listening to their customers.”

I agree with what I think Zuckerberg is trying to say, but disagree totally with the way he’s saying it.

Tropicana Orange Juice recently spent $35 million on a redesign of its brand. The strategy behind the re-branding was to reinforce the idea of value by making it look more like a store brand. One month after they launched the new brand PepsiCo (the parent company) discontinued the new brand and decided to go back to their old look.  Being a Florida guy, I happened to like the orange with a straw in it better, but what concerned me was how quickly they pulled the plug on the new brand. I would assume that through the collective wisdom of Tropicana’s executives and Arnell, the company charged with the re-branding, they were convinced this final product was in line with the business motives and audience research. So how could all those people have been wrong? And what made the “fraction of a percentage of the people who buy the product” so right that Tropicana would dismiss the research, the goals and $35 million in one month?

In the case of Tropicana, I believe they made a mistake in abandoning their new brand. There was a solid business motive for the decision and while the design could have been tweaked some more for usability, I don’t think their loyal customers would have abandoned their favorite OJ for another brand. This was a complete knee jerk reaction and I don’t think they were listening to their customers as much as they were just hearing them.

Now after just one short week of the new Facebook redesign, we have a perceived public that wants their “old Facebook homepage” back. There are even “Bring Back The Old Facebook” groups sprouting up. But let’s take a look at Facebook’s motive for the redesign. They’ll say it was to clean up the clutter, emphasize activity rather than widgets, but the reality is they wanted to compete with the fast-growing Twitter microblogging site. Now Facebook is being slammed for not listening to their users who are not happy about the change.

There are some takeaways from both the Tropicana and Facebook experiences that we should all consider when we’re ready to launch a redesign or rebrand.

Remember why you redesigned in the first place

The decision to redesign or re-brand should always be based on a reasonable motive, whether driven by business or aesthetics. Constantly remind everyone involved (even your audience) of your real motivation for the redesign and how it drives the subsequent decision-making. Tropicana should have listened to the criticism and been glad to have such a loyal audience that cares, then reminded themselves that there was a business motive behind the re-branding that made sense. Zuckerberg’s alleged comment that “companies were ‘stupid’ for listening to their customers,” may in fact just mean that customers don’t have as much at stake as his business does, so he would know better what’s best for it. Facebook was smart to take notice of Twitter when there’s a considerable distance between Twitter’s 8 million users and Facebook’s 175 million rather than let Twitter close the gap. The folks at Facebook know what they are doing and they can benefit from listening to what their loyal users want to tweak or adjust the new design, but not abandon it.

Include your audience in the process as much as possible

Making the process transparent lets your audience know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it early. This understanding may help align the criticism you may receive with the intended goal, making it actually useful. Additionally, if the audience feels they helped drive some of the decisions they’ll feel vested in the final product and less likely to complain. CNN.com was very transparent in their redesign a few years back, setting up a beta site with their redesign, pointing users there and encouraging feedback. Not only did this give them time to gauge initial user reaction, but it also made users aware that change was coming and they would have a chance to add their own input before it was forced on them. The CNN.com redesign launch was very successful and reflects some of the feedback they received from their audience.

Know what criticism to pay attention to

Design criticism is often so subjective that it’s impossible to make anything from it when you’re hearing from a large group of people. Some folks may not like the font. Some may not like the color. As frustrating enough as it is, some just don’t like it and offer no further explanation. To cut through the clutter of opinions, have an idea of the sort of feedback you want to measure results on. For example, Facebook may be interested in how many users miss the widgets or find the applications harder to find. This may be an area where they should listen to users, patiently collect their data relevant to that area of the redesign then tweak or modify as necessary. Make a list of the elements of the project you deem important, whether aesthetic or behavioral, and pay attention to the comments or criticism that focus on those areas.

Your most loyal audience won’t go anywhere

A redesign launch normally brings out a very vocal minority who love your product so much and engage with it routinely to the point that they take the change personally and will spend time to write, email or call, Twitter or start Facebook groups to show their displeasure. Who has this sort of time? Unfortunately, the majority that are pleased or indifferent will not take the same amount of time and effort to tell you they like it. I find with newspaper redesigns it’s often the same readers who call and cancel their subscriptions in protest that renew a few weeks later. I doubt most loyal Tropicana drinkers would have switched to another brand because of a new typography on the packaging. Likewise, as much as they protest, I don’t think many of the Facebook redesign haters will be abandoning their “friends” and jumping ship to another social network. Love it or hate it, they will adapt. It’s human nature.

Buddha says respond, don’t react

The Tropicana about face was a swift reaction to a minority of their audience saying they were not happy. In less than two months there is no way to get an accurate measure on whether the redesign or re-brand helped achieve the goals behind the motive to change. I had a doctor tell me once if something doesn’t go away in three months, then it’s time to pay attention to it. We’re not MDs, but three months is a pretty good rule of thumb for your redesign too. Let it be “out there” for three months before you do anything to it, let alone pull the plug on it. No knee-jerk reactions, no matter how tempting. In three months, you can collect the criticism that matters. And this timeframe also give the audience time to adjust, get used to it and make more reasonable judgments on it. ESPN.com is one of my favorite sites. I visit it regularly and I was hesitant when they came out with a new design earlier this year, but before I passed judgment I gave myself enough time to get adjusted to it and now I love it.

I should probably add that it’s also probably not a good idea to publicly dismiss your users’ advice and feedback (allegedly). Other than that, Facebook seems to be on a patient course to make sure they get this right. My advice to Facebook: stay the course. Give it 3 months before you do anything. Listen to what users are saying about the design elements, but trust your research, business motives and that your loyal audience isn’t going anywhere.

One more bit of advice for Facebook. The latest numbers show up to 1.7 million Facebook users have joined the “Petition Against the New Facebook.” 1.7 million is a large number, but in the context of 175 million total users, I suggest you go to the nearest liquor store, buy an expensive bottle of champagne (guessing you can afford it) and celebrate.