Inventors, Keep it Simple Stupid
“Keep it simple stupid (KISS)”, should be the mantra that goes through the head’s of all inventors. Now, if you feel insulted by that mantra, you can always use, “less is more” or “keep it simple sweetheart”, your choice. Regardless, below are a few great ways for inventors to keep their invention ideas simple.
Feature Paralysis
Feature paralysis can cost you money. What’s feature paralysis? Well, back in 1995, Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia University conducted a classic study showing the problems associated when customers are faced with too many choices. Two different displays of tasty jams were set up in a store — One with 24 different types of jams and the other with only 6 different types of jams. Sixty percent of customers went towards the display with 24 jams while 40% of customers went to the display with only 6 jams. Clearly, having more choices is a good thing, right? Think again, only 3% of customers faced with 24 possible choices of jams actually made a purchase. On the other hand 30% of customers made a purchase when faced with only 6 possible choices of jams. Inventors, realize that by offering more choices, selections, or features, to your potential customers that you may actually be limiting your potential income by a whopping 10 fold!
Your Invention Idea’s Elevator Pitch
Can you successfully describe to your potential customers a summary of exactly what your invention does along with it’s projected benefits within a single elevator ride (anywhere between thirty seconds to two minutes)? Practicing the art of the Elevator Pitch is a great way for inventors to remain focused around what their product does and the value that it will provide. Having a really classy and to the point elevator pitch may also come in handy when you are trying to seek funding for your invention idea or you are trying to license out your idea.
Invent with Simplicity in Mind
Simplicity is difficult and takes time. Remember that English teacher back in your early years of schooling that would make you write a four page paper? You moaned and you groaned but you managed to get it done, right? Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is that your teacher would then turn around and say, “The next lesson is to take this 4 page paper and condense it into a single paragraph that can be no more than 5 lines”. Remember how much longer it took you to do this lesson? Well, the same thing can be said of inventing with simplicity in mind. Perhaps, Leonardo Da Vinci said it best, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
Return to Sender
So you think that complexity still isn’t an issue? Ask yourself, “How many times have I been baffled by an overly complex product”? What happens in these cases? For most of us, we simply become overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to use the device. Not only that, but we often become annoyed and overwhelmed with the number of features. Then anger sets in and we typically return the product where we purchased it from. But most of us don’t stop there, we often tell others NOT to use the product that we had so much trouble with. As a side note: Studies have shown that, on average, consumers will spend about 20 minutes trying to get your invention to work as intended. After that, it will likely end up on a returned rack in the store that it was purchased from.
Feature Roll-Outs
Want another excuse not to pack tons of features into your one invention idea? Get in the mindset of implementing feature rollouts. Slowly rolling out additional features or add-ons to your product slowly not only reduces the complexity of your invention but it is also a great way to extend your invention’s product lifecycle. In addition, a longer product lifecycle typically means more money in your pocket.
Know When to Ask for Help
Never be afraid to seek outside help when designing your invention to be as simplistic and useful as possible. As inventors, we often need to take a step back and get a fresh perspective as to where our invention designs need to go.
The Dreaded Feature Creep
Sometimes as inventors we try to make an invention that does twenty different things merely satisfactory rather concentrated on doing one thing superbly. How many times have you seen products on television that say something to the effect of, “It’s a blender, a mixer, a juicer, a slicer, and a soup maker all in one”? Feature creep can cause all sorts of headaches for inventors with a brilliant invention idea including:
- Increasing project risks.
- Increasing project costs.
- Increasing the length of time to design, build, and/or market your invention.
When you find yourself falling into the dreaded realms of feature creep, simply stop and go back to a few fundamentals. These fundamentals can include:
- Understanding the skill level of your potential customers when it comes to operating your invention idea.
- Providing instructions that are clear and concise.
- Asking potential customers which feature is most important to them and then designing around this feature.
- Treat people like individuals rather than machines.
- Realize that you can’t please everyone.
- Practice the old Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand”.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start inventing with simplicity in mind. Your customers will definitely thank you for it.
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