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Agenda

How Microsoft Ireland Home And Entertainment Division Builds Customer Feedback Into Localized Products Liam Cronin :Microsoft EPDC Wednesday 19-November-2003. Agenda. Who Are The Works Product Customers? Primary And Secondary Research Product Support Services (PSS)

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Agenda

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  1. How Microsoft Ireland Home And Entertainment Division Builds Customer Feedback Into Localized Products Liam Cronin :Microsoft EPDCWednesday 19-November-2003 Liam Cronin

  2. Agenda • Who Are The Works Product Customers? • Primary And Secondary Research • Product Support Services (PSS) • Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) • Usability Testing • Newsgroups Liam Cronin

  3. Who Are Works Product Customers? • Retail market : Households with a Windows PC • Consumers that have low to intermediate PC skills • Typically not influencers : technology (less enthused) • Those that do NOT conduct work using the home PC • Have at least two people in their household • OEM market : OEM partners HP, NEC, Fujitsu Siemens, Dell, Toshiba, Medion etc… Liam Cronin

  4. Primary Research Background & Objectives • Microsoft wants to understand more about Works users to aid in product feature planning and positioning within the marketplace. To this end, online quantitative research was conducted in the United States, Germany and France in June-2003 • The primary objective of this research is to identify user wants and needs for key features/components to be offered in future versions of the Works software • Other objectives include: • Identify the value of Microsoft Works or Works Suite among users • Determine primary product usage applications • Rate impressions of Works or Works Suite on key product dimensions Liam Cronin

  5. Who Uses Works Liam Cronin

  6. First Works Version Purchased Or An Update User? • Most participants are using their first Works product. In France, even fewer updates are observed. • For those who have updated their program, OEM is again the acquisition source cited most for this earlier version. Of these Base: Total Respondents Liam Cronin

  7. Usage of Works Features • In all regions, Word Processor is the feature used most, followed by Address Books/Contacts in US and Germany and Outlook Express in France. Liam Cronin

  8. Usefulness of Features • Similar to usage, perceptions of usefulness are highest for Word Processor in all countries, followed distantly by Address Books/Contacts in US and Germany and Outlook Express in France. Pre-designed Templates and In-Product Help obtain a higher usefulness in US and France than in Germany. Liam Cronin

  9. Frequency of Use • While Word Processing and Address Books are most useful, these applications do not generally obtain daily usage. Outlook Express yields the most usage overall. Of these Liam Cronin

  10. Importance of PC Tasks • While email and Instant messaging and surfing the Internet are the most important PC tasks in US and France, word processing is more important in Germany than surfing the Internet. • Keeping address information, managing personal finances and video editing are more important in France than in either US or Germany. • Travel planning is more prevalent in US and France versus Germany. • US participants are more likely to state that running a small or home business is important compared to Germany or France. Liam Cronin

  11. European Product Support Services Relationship • PSS are based in-country though Microsoft is currently evaluating placing 1st and 2nd line support in India • PSS place bugs / problems directly into Ireland team Raid (problem) database throughout the product cycle • PSS provide Ireland with most popular features being used in the product, which helps our future planning • PSS can review the product team’s specs and give feedback at an early stage in the planning process • PSS will review Beta software before we release • Microsoft Ireland will always look at the top 20 PSS call generators before planning for the next release of a product Liam Cronin

  12. Original Equipment Manufacturers Relationship • Key European OEM for Home and Entertainment Division are HP, NEC, Fujitsu Siemens, Dell, Toshiba, Medion etc… • The key method we use to achieve our objectives is the annual visit by a Microsoft team to the OEM. During these visits, key OEM employees meet with the Microsoft team for anything from 3 hours to a day long event • The site visits to OEMs are scheduled in June/July time-frame and enable HED to get to hear OEM customer problems first hand which can be fed back into future iterations of products through bug fixes or new features • Advantageous to see OEM operations through touring their facilities to better understand their structure and processes. Learn from OEM experience and input this back into the retail product Liam Cronin

  13. Brief Overview Of Usability TestingUsability in the product cycle Planning • Establish usability goals • Visit customers • Test paper prototypes Development • Test online prototypes • Test code • Redesign and iterate Quality assurance • Test comparatively • Test in the field (beta) • Begin next version Liam Cronin

  14. Brief Overview Of Usability TestingUsability questions • Questions usability testing can answer • Can users discover how to do a task? • Which design is better? • How many errors do users make and how serious are those errors? • Questions usability testing can’t answer • Is there a demand for the product? • Will people buy the product? Liam Cronin

  15. Brief Overview Of Usability TestingUsability testing process • Define usability goals • Select participants • Develop test scenarios and tasks • Decide on measures and plan analysis • Run test in a lab environment • Communicate findings to product teams • Follow up on issues with product teams Liam Cronin

  16. Why Usability Test?General usability benefits • Reduce development and support costs • Find and fix problems before shipping • Increase productivity and efficiency • Higher productivity and efficiency saves money • Increase user satisfaction • Build brand loyalty with easy-to-use products • Show leadership in interface design • Ease of use is a key differentiator today Liam Cronin

  17. European Newsgroups Relationship • Although the newsgroup represents only 1% of our customers, they are our best 1000 customers. These are “influential” in that other people look to them for advice • Newsgroup information helps us make better decisions about our business, and also gives better feedback to the team on the product and the features • Understand any linguistic issues from European customers • Understand what upgrade problems customers encountering • Understand what version of product customers are using • In Conclusion we should all be spending more time talking to European customers, “feeling their pain”, and making sure they know the truth, which is that we care about their experience with our products… Liam Cronin

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