It seems the world has gone mad on the subject of change.

Companies change things compulsively and frantically.  Got to come up with new features, new looks. Otherwise they’ll be left in the dust by competition. They think, no one will buy their product because it hasn’t changed in six months.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of situations where you really have got to make changes. If sales are going down, down, down – you better do something different. And of course it makes sense to find ways to make your product better, longer-lasting, higher quality.

But it can be overdone and these days it often is.

I won’t name names, but one very large company delivers services through their website. And every couple of months I log in and things aren’t where they were yesterday.  Now I have to find WHERE on the page (or off it) what I’m looking for is, and get used to finding it there.

Whatever happened to “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I’m really talking about what is called “User Interface / User Experience” (UI/UX) a much neglected subject. How does your company interact with potential and actual customers?  The emphasis is on how it is experienced BY THE USER.  If your company can’t conceive of  that there is a failure of imagination which can have disastrous consequences.

There are college courses in UI/UX but you don’t need a Master’s Degree to figure it out. You need to put yourself in their shoes.

It applies much more broadly, by the way, than just websites. I have a toaster that is WAY fancier than your average toaster.  I couldn’t figure out why it would sometimes only toast on one side until someone told me that was an option – the default option no less, as if toasting on one side is the usual. After 3 months using this toaster I still don’t know where to set the control to get the perfect slice of toast – for my taste. Unlike every other toaster I’ve ever used, it is controlled not by a knob that rotates but by a slide. That gives you less feedback on where it is set.

But I digress.

Imagine yourself as a typical customer, visiting your website. They are busy, they are looking for fast answers, they aren’t looking to read a lot.

What does this all add up to?

SIMPLICITY.

Make it fast, easy, simple, crystal clear.

Then don’t be surprised if people still misunderstand things or can’t find things.

And for Pete’s sake, don’t put roadblocks in your customers way with rapid, unclear and unnecessary changes.