Get them to RTFM

If only manufacturers would do the math on the ROI of treating customers to a learning path that’s fun and effective. The cost of retaining customers would drop through the floor.My new camera has a zillion features but came with nearly worthless skimpy instructions. Here’s the marketing/sales site for the camera.

Contrast that Flashy experience to the manual. Black & white. No longer friendly. And as Kathy predicted, no focus on learning. Just the facts, ma’am.

Lots of training programs follow this pattern. They put the sexy video and bells & whistles up front. What comes next is inevitably a let-down. (The pizzazz should come in the center of a program, when habituation is setting in.)

Here’s the message I get from my camera manufacturer: We put all of our effort into luring you to become a customer. Now that we’ve got you, we’re off to ensnare others. Relationship? So long, sucker.