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Making users happy should be core to any business. Netflix and Zappos rose to incredible success on the strength of giving people more than just features – they

Making users happy should be core to any business. Netflix and Zappos rose to incredible success on the strength of giving people more than just features – they gave care. In doing that they crushed other companies who gave the bare minimum. Apple's brand has grown in the same way. Anywhere you find companies indifferent to the user experience, you'll find a huge pot of opportunity. When you earn love and loyalty through truly virtuous exchanges, people will help you with your cause. It's true with business, it's true with your personal life. Being good to people, through your features, through your behavior, through your values, has to, has to, has to come first, no matter what you're working on or how big you are.

joe_the_user 16y ago
Making users happy should be core to any business. Maybe it should be but plenty businesses make plenty of money without doing that. Look at cable companies or large health insurance companies. Yes, in markets where you have many competitors, making customers happy is important. When you have fewer competitors or when you are selling a commodity, cutting costs and increasing your output is the key. When you have a pure monopoly, continued payments to the senator of your choice are in order.
- danilocampos 16y ago
  Yeah, but the cable companies are screwed. At the very moment I can drop cable, I will. As soon as I find decent bandwidth provided by someone who isn't Comcast, they don't get my money anymore and I will piss on their graves. They're the next Blockbuster. I already won't pay for cable television. I want to give Netflix my money. As much of it as they're willing to trade for great value. I like doing business with them. You can make money by not making people happy, sure. But you can also make dinner without caring how it tastes. It'll satisfy some baseline nutritional needs, but what is the point? edit: And don't get me started on health insurance companies. They exist in a nauseating little ecological niche carved out through a perversion of the tax code. The moment health insurance stops being equated with compensation, they dry up like weeds, replaced by companies who must be genuinely accountable to the market. I get what you're saying, but I'd rather rob people at gunpoint than make money like these guys. At least the robber has the courtesy to screw you in person, you know?
  - joe_the_user 16y ago
    At the very moment I can drop cable, I will. Ah, but you can't... Having a monopoly position put these fellows in the position where they make money from customer who leave them for anyone ... if they could. In fact, they make the most money that way ... and the fiduciary duty they have ... to share holders, says they have to do that, doesn't it?
    - danilocampos 16y ago
      For the moment. But the wheel turns. It always does. And that's the important thing. For a very long time, media distribution revolved around warehousing cumbersome black boxes of plastic and charging absurd fees for access. The barriers for entry were extraordinary, requiring geographic reach and licensing agreements. Nationwide media rental was a defacto monopoly for Blockbuster. Then the medium of information shifted. Because Blockbuster didn't care that much about whether or not people were happy with the service they provided, they didn't notice the new opportunities to make their business better. Someone else did. Someone always will. Netflix, because they are customer focused, is busy making itself obsolete. They know one day that the wheel will turn. Physical media will disappear entirely. The same will happen for bandwidth. Disruption is only a matter of time. As always, there are challenges. But the demand is universal. The market is enormous. And everyone fucking hates the incumbents.
    - derefr 16y ago
      But "have a monopoly" isn't a viable business strategy: you can't decide to build a monopoly business, then go out and do it. It's just something companies luck into, like winning the lottery.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  Telecom and the health industry are some of the most highly regulated industries in the US. Is it a coincidence that both are replete with customer abuse and horrible customer service?

joe_the_user 16y ago

Making users happy should be core to any business. Maybe it should be but plenty businesses make plenty of money without doing that. Look at cable companies or large health insurance companies. Yes, in markets where you have many competitors, making customers happy is important. When you have fewer competitors or when you are selling a commodity, cutting costs and increasing your output is the key. When you have a pure monopoly, continued payments to the senator of your choice are in order.

danilocampos 16y ago
Yeah, but the cable companies are screwed. At the very moment I can drop cable, I will. As soon as I find decent bandwidth provided by someone who isn't Comcast, they don't get my money anymore and I will piss on their graves. They're the next Blockbuster. I already won't pay for cable television. I want to give Netflix my money. As much of it as they're willing to trade for great value. I like doing business with them. You can make money by not making people happy, sure. But you can also make dinner without caring how it tastes. It'll satisfy some baseline nutritional needs, but what is the point? edit: And don't get me started on health insurance companies. They exist in a nauseating little ecological niche carved out through a perversion of the tax code. The moment health insurance stops being equated with compensation, they dry up like weeds, replaced by companies who must be genuinely accountable to the market. I get what you're saying, but I'd rather rob people at gunpoint than make money like these guys. At least the robber has the courtesy to screw you in person, you know?
- joe_the_user 16y ago
  At the very moment I can drop cable, I will. Ah, but you can't... Having a monopoly position put these fellows in the position where they make money from customer who leave them for anyone ... if they could. In fact, they make the most money that way ... and the fiduciary duty they have ... to share holders, says they have to do that, doesn't it?
  - danilocampos 16y ago
    For the moment. But the wheel turns. It always does. And that's the important thing. For a very long time, media distribution revolved around warehousing cumbersome black boxes of plastic and charging absurd fees for access. The barriers for entry were extraordinary, requiring geographic reach and licensing agreements. Nationwide media rental was a defacto monopoly for Blockbuster. Then the medium of information shifted. Because Blockbuster didn't care that much about whether or not people were happy with the service they provided, they didn't notice the new opportunities to make their business better. Someone else did. Someone always will. Netflix, because they are customer focused, is busy making itself obsolete. They know one day that the wheel will turn. Physical media will disappear entirely. The same will happen for bandwidth. Disruption is only a matter of time. As always, there are challenges. But the demand is universal. The market is enormous. And everyone fucking hates the incumbents.
  - derefr 16y ago
    But "have a monopoly" isn't a viable business strategy: you can't decide to build a monopoly business, then go out and do it. It's just something companies luck into, like winning the lottery.
InclinedPlane 16y ago
Telecom and the health industry are some of the most highly regulated industries in the US. Is it a coincidence that both are replete with customer abuse and horrible customer service?