December 10, 2006
Selling a Use Case
Techcrunch just covered Loopnote, a new service that allows users to subscribe to information on a given topic so they can “stay in the loop.” Publishers are allowed to create the “loops” that provide information on a particular topic to interested users. As the first few people to comment on the Techcrunch post are quick to point out, Loopnote doesn’t provide any new technology. You can get exactly the same functionality using a hosted blogging package, Yahoo! Groups, an announcement only mailing list.
Why the new service, then? Why the positive coverage from Techcrunch? Let’s say I run a softball league and I need a way to send schedules, results, and schedule change notifications out to all the players. Unless I’m particularly tech savvy, I’m not likely to think to myself, “why don’t I sign up for a blogger account, burn the feed using Feedburner, and then use the Feedburner email subscription option. Each of my posts will then be sent out to all the players who subscribe.” I am far more likely to use a service like Loopnote that is sold as a way to send notifications.
Loopnote not only makes it clear to the average Joe what you can do with the service and why you would want to do it, Loopnote also makes that one particular thing easy to do. They market to a specific use case and optimize the user experience to that use case. It makes sense when you think about it.
Solutions selling, in enterprise software, is exactly the same thing.
As a technologist, its too easy to fall into the trap of only looking at a given technology not the real world problems that technology solves.
Hi Rourke- i couldn’t have said it better myself. thanks!
Umm.. wouldn’t a non techsavy person (like me) just send out an email, and cc?
Mostly people do exactly that today — they email everyone. With a long and changing list,though, that can become a pain. I can really see the advantage to using a service like Loopnote, particularly with more and more people being somewhat internet literate.