TMW #186 | Against convenience
Welcome to The Martech Weekly, where every week I review some of the most interesting ideas, research, and latest news. I look to where the industry is going and what you should be paying attention to.
đź‘‹ Get TMW every Sunday
TMW is the fastest and easiest way to stay ahead of the Martech industry. Sign up to get TMW newsletters, along with a once-a-month complimentary Sunday Deep Dive. Learn more here.
Against convenience
The human experience demands friction.
Meaningful things are hard to do. Take a look back on your career for example: The stuff that meant the most to you usually involved some kind of suffering, perseverance, and effort.
Doing something hard is what makes an adventure worth taking. Ever tried to visit North Korea, fly a plane, or climb Everest? Hard. Adventure.
I have my university degree hanging in my living room for this reason. I suffered through that degree immensely, but it taught me so much about achieving things that I’m grateful for.
Now imagine for a minute if I could order that degree to be delivered via UberEducation after answering a couple of questions. Would I treasure it as much? Probably not.
Now expand your imagination to all the things you need each day: A car to get around, food to eat, perhaps clothes to wear, access to health services.
All of these things have been drastically improved by making them more convenient. But I’m sure you’re not proudly displaying your grocery receipt in your living room as an achievement.
But in the ongoing race to make almost every aspect of human life convenient through technology, I think we’ve lost something fundamental with how brands build relationships with customers. Marketers and digital folks have somehow come to believe that convenience is an ultimate good: It cannot be challenged, and you MUST make the customer journey frictionless, convenient, and efficient if you are to be successful.
The Martech industry with its analytics tools, customer experience management platforms, data orchestration, customer journey maps, and optimization platform exist by and large to make the custom journey as frictionless as possible.
So, what I’m going to argue in this essay is that there’s a strange reverse logic where the harder something is to buy, the more customers want it. And that it’s actually a good thing.
So my question to you, dear reader, is this: What do we lose in our quest to make customer experience as convenient as possible? And is it worth what we gain?
🔓 Continue reading Sunday deep dives with a free TMW PRO subscription
Get the full versions of upcoming Sunday Deep Dive and all of our newsletters every week with TMW PRO. It's the easiest and fastest way to make sure you're fully informed on how the marketing technology industry is evolving.
For a limited time, you can earn 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage for free. Qualified brand side practitioners who complete a short survey and 1-hour interview with our knowledge partner Alium will receive 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage (a US$499 value) for free. CLICK HERE to get started.
Here’s what some of our existing TMW PRO members have to say;
“TWM is a finger on the pulse of what's happening, with the clarity of insight to see the important patterns underneath the noise” – Scott Brinker (VP, Hubspot).
“I recommend TMW to all leaders who are customer-focused and transforming companies via digital technologies” – Kazuki Ohta (CEO, Treasure Data).
“I've subscribed to many Marketing newsletters, but TMW is at the top of my list with the most valuable content for marketing professionals" – Lilly Lou (Marketing Director, Icertis).
TMW PRO is an invaluable resource that’ll help you to truly transform and future-proof your career in Martech.
CLICK HERE to get 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage for free
CLICK HERE to purchase TMW PRO
Stay Curious,
Make sense of marketing technology.
Sign up now to get TMW delivered to your inbox every Sunday evening plus an invite to the slack community.
Want to share something interesting or be featured in The Martech Weekly? Drop me a line at juan@themartechweekly.com.