As technology gets more complex, marketers must find a way to communicate the many capabilities that new products offer without confusing consumers. This challenge was the subject of a recent study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, who dug into the phenomenon of “feature creep” and its impact on consumer sentiment. Researchers found that it’s not just the number of features that marketers should worry about; it’s also how the features work together that needs to be clarified for potential buyers.
What is feature creep?
Feature creep, also known as scope creep in the project management world, is the ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, especially in computer software, video games, and consumer and business electronics.
Feature creep happens when a product team continues to add features to the point that the product’s value starts to decline. Cable news provides a good example of feature creep. Originally, viewers would tune in to see a news anchor read the day’s headlines with perhaps a visual and scrolling news ticker at the bottom. Over time, producers added stock market alerts, weather updates, and breaking news headlines in addition to the scrolling ticker and multi-screen panelists. The news report now appears crowded, noisy, and distracting, with multiple data sources providing updates simultaneously. This information overload is a good example of feature creep.
Why does feature creep occur?
There are many reasons why product teams fall victim to feature creep. “Feature creep is typically the result of poor planning, insufficient product strategy, and misaligned priorities,” wrote Shopify. “Typically, requests for new features are added after the project has started, are out of scope, and the changes are not properly reviewed.”
Feature creep can result from a desire to stay competitive or to meet pressure from board members and other stakeholders who request new features. As companies continue to seek an edge in the market, adding new features can seem like a shortcut to getting new customers to buy products.
[Read more: What Is Lean Product Development?]
Feature creep is typically the result of poor planning, insufficient product strategy, and misaligned priorities.
Nick Babich, Shopify
However, feature creep can dissuade consumers from making a purchase — in ways that are only recently becoming clear.
How to avoid the pitfalls of feature creep
Predictably, research shows that a high number of features can overwhelm consumers. But that’s not the only aspect of feature creep that turns customers away from a product. The Texas McCombs study found that the relationship among features also plays a role.
“The big takeaway for companies and marketers [is] that they can boost sales by emphasizing that a product’s features are interrelated, thereby promoting expectations that it will work well. They should deemphasize dissimilar features, so that consumers don’t think the product will be hard to operate,” reported the University of Texas at Austin.
According to the study, marketers should consider how messaging emphasizes two key traits: heterogeneity and interrelatedness.
- Heterogeneity: De-emphasize a product’s heterogeneity, which consumers associate with being difficult to use. For example, a smart home is a highly heterogeneous product as it controls dissimilar features, such as floor heating, the refrigerator, and television.
- Interrelatedness: Emphasize feature interrelatedness to show how a product is highly capable. For instance, marketers would share how the smart home system can automatically close the blinds and turn up the audio system when the television gets turned on.
The bottom line? Too many features are confusing to consumers in more ways than one. Small business marketing teams should focus on how features work together and augment the customer experience as they relate to the core purpose of the product.
How to prevent feature creep
Ideally, scope creep should be avoided altogether. The Texas McCombs study recommended that developers resist the impulse to add as many new features as possible. Any new additions should have plenty of functional connectivity that adds value for the consumer. Keep your products true to their core purpose, add features as they enhance product usage, and keep the dimensions of interrelatedness and heterogeneity in mind as you develop your product road map.
[Read more: 5 Steps to Identify New Products and Services]
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