Who Needs a TomTom That Twitters?

Guest post from Heather Ishikawa (co-author of Now You’re Thinking!)

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Did you know that the new TomTom’s Go Live GPS device will have Twitter functionality?  When I heard this, I immediately jumped to conclusions about how I could use this functionality:

1. Inform all friends that I don’t know where I’m going
2. Instant tweets for every wrong turn that requires a “recalculating route” prompt
3. Auto tweet friends who live along my route, specifying how I was nearby but didn’t stop by to say hello

I must admit that this functionality didn’t seem like a great selling point to me.  When I explored this new product further, I learned that in addition to Twitter, it will also feature apps like Yelp, TripAdvisor and traffic updates.  I can see the benefits of these other apps but I must admit that I am not a fan of auto tweeting my driving route.  I can only imagine the tweets that could be sent: Heather is driving back and forth on Main Street. Heather has checked in at Starbucks… Chevron…Shell…76…Starbucks.  The only benefit of the Twitter component for me would be the final destination tweet, “yes she finally made it home.”

When a new product is released, it is important to think about the assumptions that your buyers might make when initially learning about your product.  Most prospective customers only evaluate a product for seconds and they instantly make a decision. Therefore managing the initial assumptions and expectations of customers is a key component to driving the success of a product.

What organizations do a great job of identifying customer’ assumptions about their products?  How do they do this?

(image source)