Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love [Paperback]

Paul Allen Smethers (Author), Alastair France (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

Paul Allen Smethers and Alastair France have spent the last 20 years helping to improve products for many of the largest consumer technology companies in the world. Their specialty is in analyzing the footprints of consumers who use technology products - for example, the transactions of a user navigating through a web site.

After analyzing billions of transactions from millions of real users, Smethers and France are able to answer some tough questions: What attracts consumers? What paths are consumers taking? Quite simply, what works best?

The results of these studies are amazing. Consumers behave exactly opposite to how the experts in the industry predicted they would. Smethers and France have built new consumer behavior models to explain these results. When these models are applied to real products, consumer usage usually doubles or triples within weeks.

Five Myths of Consumer Behavior explains these new models and is a critical tool for entrepreneurs, marketers, and engineers trying to crack the consumer technology marketplace.

* Find out why 85% of first-time users fail to find acceptable value with new products and features.

* Find out why adding more features to a product will often reduce consumer usage, not increase it.

* Find out why increasing your advertising at the wrong time may hurt your product's consumer adoption.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Allen Smethers, based in Seattle, and Alastair France, based in England, have worked together for 7 years as strategy consultants to some of the biggest names in consumer technology. Both have marketing backgrounds for consumer technology products. Together they have performed major data analysis and product improvement projects around the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 153 pages
• Publisher: Consumerease (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976357828
• ISBN-13: 978-0976357827
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 5 Myths Too Many Software Teams Don't Realize!, December 18, 2010

By 

Joseph Ward "CEO, Viral Age Inc." (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love (Paperback)

This book has become a *vital* part of the core philosophies of our Viral Age Inc team. When developing our software, we constantly consider the 5 Myths and we avoid (at all costs) slipping back into the old school developer mentality. To add a new feature to our software, the team member that brings it to the table has to build a compelling case for why it adds value to our end users (who do not and won't use the software just like us). If we can't prove that it's something our users will need/want/love, it doesn't make it into the product. I've read, summarized, shared, quoted, and spoken at length about the 5 myths and this book more so than any other book in my library. In fact, I think it's a travesty for any software team that doesn't have a copy next to each team member's keyboard! We'll find out more in alpha testing how well we've done. In the event users tell us otherwise, we'll take their feedback and iterate, once again staying true to the principles of the 5 Myths.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not For Everyone...But That's A Supreme Compliment, November 12, 2006

By 

Andy Nulman (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love (Paperback)

This is a specific book for a specific market, but if you do create any type of consumer-touching tech product--from hardware or software to websites, blogs (like mine [...]) and any type of e-commerce--it's a real Godsend. I devoured this one in an evening and a morning, interrupted only by a night's sleep...where I dreamt about the multiple raminfications this could have on my mobile entertainment business. Breezily written in a style so real-world and friendly that it's accessible to a wide audience, but after getting to know Smethers and France in print, I would suspect that cutting a wide swath through the book-buying public would just serve to disprove the theory they build so convincingly. These guys are bright, concise and relevant, and demystify a process that even many of tech's big boys have trouble dealing with. Mark me down as a "Power User" of the Five Myths.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book if you fit into its targeted audience, July 14, 2007

By 

Phillip Schwarzmann "Stand-up comic. Writer. ... (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love (Paperback)

Its for a very niche audience, technology marketers, technology product managers, technology online marketers. Especially if you're in the telecommunications industry.

Great writing style, quick read, essential reading if you fit into the targeted audience.