The futurist, Alvin Toffler defined ignorage as information or logic that was once true but because of change, is no longer so. Ignorage plays havoc with the customer experience, especially when the vendor perpetuates it. Given the rate of change these days, it is not a trivial issue.
I have a high opinion of the quality of the products offered by Adobe Corporation but several recent experiences have left me soured. Adobe needs to put some of the energy they put into product QC into the experiences customers have trying to use their products.
If you go to the Adobe website you can download a PDF on “How to Create Adobe PDF eBooks.” This is a reasonably well written, 62 page document. In the book it recommends that you upload your eBook to the Adobe Content Server for packaging and distribution. The problem is that Adobe no longer supports the Adobe Content Server. The customers are left to discover that through a lengthy and frustrating process.
Ok, I have vented on Adobe. But there is a much more generalizable message here. When ignorage is perpetuated by a company they lose credibility and it undermines trust. When this happens, customers are more likely to try to avoid having experience with the company and their products. We want to avoid frustration.
The flip side occurs when companies go to great lengths to make sure customers can get the most out their products. Apple Computer comes to mind. The classrooms and Genius Bars in Apple retail stores go a long way to overcoming ignorage and confusion. As a retailer, Apple Computers store reached $1 billion dollars faster than anyone in history.
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Customer Experience Management initiatives should spend at least as much time on the consumption side of the customer experience as they do on making the sales process more appealing. Stamping-out ignorage is one way do so.
Addicted Customers is available now as a printable eBook at www.AddictedCustomers.com/ebook. It will be available at Amazon and other book purveyors in late October.
