Buying From Your Customers

This morning, I had a very cool experience — I needed a product that is sold on a customer’s site.

My halogen lamp didn’t turn on today. It has worked, year after year, so I knew that the light bulb had blown. I went to the website of one of our customers and purchased a new light bulb. (Well, OK, I had to purchase two.) The process of making a real purchase from our customer, instead of making a fake purchase, was enlightening. I saw all sorts of things that I’ve never seen before because my glasses were tinted in “customer shades” today.

There is an interesting user testing lesson in my little halogen light bulb experience. If it’s not something they are really spending their own money on, the experience is just not the same.