Unreasonable Support: Design for the Unhappy Path
Product Managers spend most of their time focused on the happy path of their users. A check-out experience that leads to the perfect product landing on the doorstep. A subscription service with 100% uptime.
Don’t forget to design for the unhappy path
When done right, unhappy path design activates a feeling of reciprocity in users. Reciprocity, a well-known concept in social science, shows most people respond to a positive action with another positive action. In contrast, poor unhappy path design leads to annoyed customers and churn.
Two recent experiences reminded me of the importance of designing for the unhappy path when building products.
Vinted’s poor unhappy path
Vinted is a marketplace for second hand clothes and goods in the United Kingdom. Sellers post no longer used clothes and buyers snap them up. I’ve been using Vinted for about 12 months with little complaint - though with a few ideas on how to make posting items easier! Unfortunately, a couple of months ago a seller sent me the wrong item before a holiday. The seller acknowledged their mistake and confirmed a return. Vinted has a time limit to return items. I missed the timeline and my requests for an extension were not granted.
The amount in question was small, user error was present, and I am now the unproud owner of a Paul Smith graphic t-shirt. I have also stopped using Vinted. I was too frustrated by the buying experience when the purchase did not proceed as planned.
Lime Bike’s reciprocity
Lime Bikes (or their equivalents) are now as ubiquitous in large global cities as ambulance sirens, chic coffee shops, and FOMO. Electric bikes that you can rent by the minute. The trouble is, like any mechanical product, they often break. A flat tyre, a bent wheel, a faulty brake.
When a ride has started and a fault then found, you report the issue via Lime’s app. It would be easy for Lime to withhold any refund until verifying the fault. This is not their approach - at least for the average user. Within 2-3 clicks, they grant a refund leaving the harried commuter to find the next bike and get on their way. This has happened to me many times over the last month. I reciprocate the ease of refund with remaining a Lime Bike user.
I had a similar experience with Amazon’s Kindle a decade or so ago. After a fault within the first month, Amazon sent out a replacement. Whilst they asked me to return the faulty Kindle, there was no obligation. I still use that Kindle today - buying hundreds of books from Amazon in the meantime.
Provide unreasonable support
Providing your users with - at least what they feel to be - unreasonable levels of support will pay off in loyalty and retention. It is efficient too. The cost of keeping an existing user loyal is often less than the cost of acquiring new customers.
Rory Sutherland, the great ad man, has a story of a clothes shop owner who jangles their keys for an extra minute as they lock up each day. Every so often, a customer rushes up and begs the owner to let them in for an urgent purchase. The shop owner sighs, smiles and reopens the shop. The result - a loyal customer for life.