Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love (Paperback)

by Paul Allen Smethers (Author), Alastair France (Author)
Key Phrases: Consumer Adoption Funnel, Consumer Adoption S-Curve, Central Point (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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.

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 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #392,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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 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	P. Schwarzmann "pschwar" (Finland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, effective and to the point, January 28, 2007

By	U. Lakhani "Usman Lakhani" (North York Ontario) - See all my reviews

This is a great book for light reading or serious investigation.
Even though the book is specifically targeted for technology products, the ideas and concepts apply equally well to any product that is being developed with a general audience in mind.

You dont need to be creating a product to purchase this book.