Whenever I stay in a new hotel, I’m always intrigued and annoyed by the design of the bathroom appliances. Inevitably, the sink and shower have some weird design that makes it impossible to guess where cold water ends and hot water begins. In some cases, the knobs or handles just need to be turned a little bit further than what I’m used to. But in other scenarios, the entire spatial relationship is different, e.g. the shower lever only goes from two o’clock to five o’clock, rather than moving all the way around the dial.

In each of these cases, the unfamiliar interface makes the first interaction more complicated and stressful. It could even be dangerous if someone expects the faucet to behave one way, and ends up with scalding hot water as a result. While I doubt that appliance designers will agree on a standard user interface for sinks and showers, there is one simple thing they can do: include a built-in thermometer in their products.

I’m not talking about anything complicated. Just carve out a little area where the water comes out of the faucet, and insert a regular thermometer to show the water temperature. Ideally, the thermometer would also include clear labeling to delineate which temperature range is safe, versus the point that hot water becomes a burn hazard. Since a simple thermometer doesn’t even require a power source, it should be relatively straightforward to integrate this feature into future sink and shower designs.

In hotels, restaurants and similar venues, every first-time customer is forced to figure out the bathroom appliances on their own. There’s always the risk that the customer will burn themself and avoid that business in the future, or even pursue legal action. For these types of venues, a sink or shower with a built-in thermometer should command a premium over regular models. I’d love to see an appliance company give it a try, since the value of this feature is significant for customers and venue owners alike.

Before boarding a flight at the San Francisco airport, I stopped at a Peet’s Coffee near the gate. I ordered an iced coffee, which was quite good, and polished it off quickly. The nearest trash bins were at the coffee shop itself, so I walked over to dispose of the empty plastic cup.

I expected to either see a series of unmarked trash receptacles, or one for recycling and one for garbage. Instead, there was one bin marked “compost only”, and the other bins had no labels at all. Perhaps the term “compost” has some local significance in California. But to me, it just makes me think of the compost piles that people used to have in New York when I was growing up. What went into those piles? From what I recall, things like banana peels and other biodegradable garbage were the favorites, but I could easily be mistaken about that.

Ideally, the coffee shop would label the trash bins with phrases that everyone understands, like “Recycling” and “Trash”. But if they insist on sticking with unfamiliar terms such as “compost”, they should add a brief explanation of what the name means. Either way, it’s also a smart idea to provide examples of what goes into each bin, either in text or picture form. For instance, if a bin says “Recycling – Plastic cups, containers and paper goods” or “Compost – Unwanted food and other biodegradable substances”, customers should have no problem putting trash in the right place.

When you walk up to a taxi line at a hotel or airport, the typical protocol is to get into the first taxi in the line. But what if you don’t like that taxi company, or want a different type of cab? In most cases, the taxi drivers and venue operator would say you’re out of luck. They’ve made an agreement that customers have to board the first taxi there, and you don’t get a say in the matter.

Of course, the customer is free to challenge this policy. After all, I doubt there’s any law that says how taxi lines need to work, and customers certainly haven’t signed any document agreeing to the boarding protocol. What interests me more, though, is the impact that these arbitrary policies have on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

When there are few alternatives, people usually complain a little bit, and then just accept the policies as stated. But if a business keeps imposing arbitrary rules on its customers, it’s usually only a matter of time before a new vendor comes along with a fresh approach. In the case of taxis, this might simply mean that a taxi company starts parking across the street where there’s no official taxi line, and using bright signage in their cab windows to attract customers who are tired of the status quo.

Regardless of the type of business, it’s important to recognize that customers have a choice — even if that freedom to choose isn’t apparent today. If they’re in a big rush to get somewhere right away, travelers might not be able to sidestep your taxi line protocol and locate a better taxi option down the street. But the next time they’re faced with a similar situation, they’ll know better than to make the same mistake again.

I live in a tall building, and like most tall buildings, there is a trash chute on every floor. Right by the chute, there’s a sign explaining that you can only put actual trash bags down the chute. There are even drawings of what you shouldn’t force down the chute, including pizza boxes. It seems like common sense, yet the building management obviously knows that some residents are clueless enough that they need a reminder.

This makes me wonder: what’s the most effective way to teach people common sense and discourage them from doing stupid things? There are at least three approaches:

– Tell them what to do

– Tell them what not to do

– Tell them what not to do, and include a picture that illustrates the consequences

If I had to guess, the third approach would be the most effective. After all, if some portion of your audience lacks common sense, they probably won’t respond very well to a polite reminder about acting a certain way. But if you show them what happens when they ignore the warning, and that image is visceral enough to make them take notice, then there’s at least some chance they’ll behave in the way that you requested.

Not too long ago, Trader Joe’s started selling hand sanitizer. In terms of the product quality and cost per ounce, it’s a good value. However, I would never buy their brand on a regular basis. The reasoning is simple: it doesn’t come in a pump bottle, which means I would have to pick up the whole container, open the top, flip it over, and squeeze it to get the product out. That’s a lot more work than just using a pump.

In this case, there is a gap between customers’ expectations for how the product is commonly sold, and the way the vendor has designed it. When something is typically offered in a pump bottle, that’s probably the type of container that you should use for your own version. Sure, you could try to be different and use a flip or push or screw top. But keep in mind there’s always a tradeoff. Even if your design is better in every way, some portion of customers will avoid the product simply because it’s not what they were expecting.

Maybe you’re targeting a niche that doesn’t care about conventional design. That type of customer may very well favor a unique take on things, even if the benefits aren’t immediately obvious. But if you’re going after the mainstream market, remember that familiarity carries a lot of weight.

Like a well-trained customer, the first thing I do after walking into CVS is head straight to the kiosk and scan my loyalty card. The system then prints out some coupons, which are presumably based on my purchase history and the products they feel I’m likely to be interested in. However, this is rarely the case. Instead, I receive discounts and special offers on things that I never end up buying, and the coupons go to waste.

The store probably uses a fairly complex algorithm to decide which coupons to give each customer. But you’d think they would be able to factor in the historical coupon redemptions to see if the offers are actually a good fit. For instance, there are a few products that I’ve gotten at least two or three coupons for in the past six months. I’ve never used any of these coupons. Thus, it follows that the system should factor in this behavior to influence the coupons they present me with in the future.

Granted, I’m sure it’s quite complex to cross reference coupons issued to a given loyalty card number, versus actual redemptions of those coupons with the same loyalty card. However, if a retailer has already made the substantial investment to provide a loyalty program, in-store kiosks, and personalized coupons, it seems like the incremental cost of tying it all together would be worthwhile. By making those connections, customers would receive more relevant offers that match up with their actual shopping behavior and interests. As a result, coupon redemption rates would rise, and the loyalty program would become more worthwhile for all the parties involved.

Every time I pick up a prescription, I have to go through a delicate and dangerous process. No, I’m not talking about opening the bottle or taking the medication. Rather, I’m referring to the effort of separating the paperwork from the actual bottle or container, which involves removing between two and four metal staples from the complex mess of papers, bags and bottles.

If liberating the staples is hard for a relatively young person like me, I can only imagine the stress it causes for the elderly or other groups that have limited range of motion in their hands. Ironically, pharmacies already provide easy-to-open bottles for these groups. But those bottles are likely to be wrapped in the same staple-laden mess, which is harder to deal with than the child-proof bottles that seemingly get all the attention.

With this in mind, pharmacies should phase out the use of staples or other sharp items, and switch to something that’s less frustrating and dangerous to customers. For example, they could use tape or binder clips — or even that nifty method that attaches paper together by just weaving the paper itself. Either way, replacing frustrating and dangerous metal staples with an easier and safer option is the right thing to do. It’s inexpensive and simple to implement, and would make a world of difference for those customers who dread having to spend time battling with staples after each visit to the pharmacy.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to find a local provider of a certain service. So I went to the company’s website, navigated to the appropriate page, and was disappointed to learn that they expect you to fill out a form just to get a list of local vendors.

Since I had no interest in filling out all sorts of info to use what was basically a store locator, I sent them an email asking for the nearest provider. Days went by with no response. Next, I called them and asked for the info. They took down my name and phone number, but I never heard back. Eventually, I found what I was looking for without their help, but the whole experience was quite frustrating.

Let’s generalize this a bit, and examine what can go wrong when a potential customer asks where to buy your product or service, and you force them to submit their request via phone, email or a web form and then wait for a delayed response:

– Some customers won’t bother to contact you at all

– The request might get lost, or your staff will forget to reply

– The lack of an immediate response may cause the customer to lose interest and seek out alternatives

Of course, it’s really easy to avoid these problems. Just create a “Where to buy” page on your website that tells people exactly how and where to purchase the product — whether it’s from you or a channel partner. If you work with a network of local resellers or distributors, a searchable list or map interface is nice — but even a basic list showing each vendor with their city and state is better than nothing. And whatever you do, be sure to design the interface so that customers can get the desired info in an immediate, self-service fashion. By taking away the obstacles and delays, you’ll make it a whole lot easier for motivated prospects to become satisfied customers.

Let’s say you run a company that makes single use products, like plastic bags or styrofoam cups. It’s no secret that consumers and businesses alike are reducing their usage of these disposable items, and replacing them with reusable alternatives. With this trend in mind, do you keep producing only the disposable products, or do you expand your product line to include reusable versions as well?

The answer here seems obvious: if customers are gradually shifting their buying habits towards durable, reusable products, then the companies making the disposable versions should find a way to meet this demand. Even if they have to resell somebody else’s products at first, at least they’re maintaining some continuity in the customer relationship. There’s always time to ramp up in-house production later, if actual sales volume dictates that existing customers are willing to buy up the new, more durable versions.

Yet despite this logic, it’s hard to think of any disposable product companies that have successfully adapted to the reusable products trend. For instance, look at the reusable shopping bags that virtually every store sells today. Do you think the folks who make the plastic and paper bags for those stores also manufacture the new fabric ones? I doubt it. Granted, there can be a big difference in your business model when you start selling things that cost $1 each instead of 3 cents. But if your customers are shifting their purchasing habits towards reusable products, you’ll either need to start offering the options they want, or watch sales gradually erode as they find those products elsewhere.

If you’re involved with any type of online marketing, you’ve probably seen numerous articles about the importance of customer reviews. Typically, the standard line of thinking is that providing as many reviews as possible, and highlighting the most useful ones, will help sell more products. Those recommendations certainly make sense, but I think there’s one aspect of e-commerce sites where reviews are generally being underutilized: the shopping cart and checkout process.

In particular, whenever a product’s reviews exceed a certain threshold, then that info should be shown right next to the product name on the shopping cart and checkout pages. Of course, the exact criteria for when reviews are displayed would probably vary from site to site. Some retailers might show the info only for those products that have at least 3 or so reviews, while others might restrict it to products whose average star rating is say 3.5 on a 5 point scale. And for those cases when the review info is being displayed, there should be a link to view more details about the ratings — without leaving the cart and checkout process, of course.

By extending product reviews to the most important pages in the purchasing process, retailers will help customers feel more confident in their proposed purchase. In turn, cart abandonment will decrease and the number of successful transactions will grow, all the while leveraging the customer review systems that retailers already have in place.