“Pundits often refer to them as ‘zealots’ or ‘fanboys.’ The more polite references include ‘Mac loyalists.’ I am, of course, talking about Apple’s more vocal customers, those who will defend the company and its products in any debate going on around them. What is it that drives their passion for most things Apple? Is it a deluded mind, warped by the Reality Distortion Field that Steve Jobs so successfully wraps every new product in? In short, the answer is no,” Aric Winton writes for Blackfriars’ Marketing.
Winton writes, “The truth behind the scenes is not that Apple has a large group of customers that are too dedicated and passionate about their products, or the company as a whole. The reality is far more simple and obvious: Apple simply has a large group of very satisfied customers — and that’s the secret ingredient left out of nearly every analysis or op-ed piece that mentions these ‘zealots.'”
“The obvious side to Apple’s customer satisfaction lies in their attention to detail in every facet of product development. All their products are designed, at every stage, with the customer clearly in mind and each product is tailored to make it as easy to use as possible for the customer, regardless of how technically savvy or not they may be,” Winton writes.
Winton writes, “The less obvious side involves two keywords: freedom and choice.”
Full article – highly recommended – in which Winton explains that “too much choice” in both hardware and software “leads to less satisfaction” and that Apple understands that idea very well, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacUser” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple again leads Consumer Reports’ survey for notebook, desktop computer tech support, value, more – October 16, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – August 22, 2006
Apple far outscores all other PC makers in Consumer Reports Computer Tech Support Survey – May 05, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, portables top PC Magazine’s 2005 Reader Satisfaction survey – August 24, 2005
Apple Computer products top PC Magazine’s annual ‘Best of the Year’ survey – December 16, 2004
Apple Macs top PC Magazine’s ’17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey’ – August 10, 2004
Apple leads PC Magazine’s 16th annual Service and Reliability Survey – July 10, 2003
Winton gets it!
I agree, he does get it…Interesting how something so simple can be so effective. Although I suppose it could be considered a risky strategy ( before it proves itself), and not everyone could pull it off.
It’s so obvious. Apple’s “zealots” and “fanboys” exist because Apple makes great products. Apple doesn’t pay us to be “loyalists.” The only company that can afford to pay people to be fake fans is Microsoft.
Dam right. I’m a happy, vocal Apple fanboi!
Although I can be extremely tough on Apple sometimes, it comes from just over 20 years of expecting the very best computing experience possible and demading even more perfection.
By the way, BlueRay is kicking HD-DVD’s a$$$
Make sure you download the PDF and see the chart, HD-DVD is nearly dead.
http://www.dailytech.com/Sony+Releases+Report+on+Bluray+vs+HD+DVD/article6841.htm
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/files/sonyhdreport031807.zip
Great read. Many a company can learn from Apple, Inc.’s outstanding marketing.
Great article. I think a lot of us have been saying this. This mainstream recognition is something to behold, though. In a year or two, things may be even better. Hard to imagine, but I can’t wait.
Wiseguy, I mean… Peterson… um, I mean…
C’mere, gimme a hug.
That was indeed a great article.
But do you know why Apple’s competition has to offer “more choices” than Apple. That’s the only way they can distinguish themselves from Apple. “We have inferior products, but we offer more freedom for the customer than Apple.”
Remember when Apple used to offer a few dozen Mac models called Performa, Centris, and Quadra, followed by a 3 or 4 digit number. Then Steve Jobs returned and chopped it down to the four quadrants (with one initially missing). What was left… Power Mac (in two body types), PowerBook, and iMac (iBook came later).
It’s not Apple that understood this philosophy. It’s Jobs.
the tyranny of choice has operational impacts as well….we support windows at work and the “tyranny of choices” when configuring and operating a windows box compared to the macs just leaves me shaking my head. i don’t see how any casual user can deal with it or needs to deal with it. apple hides the choices – go to the command line if you really need it.
There are two things going on in this article. The first is a discussion of Apple “fanatics” and the second is the “paradox of choice”. Let me just address the first issue.
It always annoys me when I hear analysts and others say something like: “Well, I don’t know if there are enough Apple Fanatics to make the (Apple TV, iPhone, whatever) successful. In fact, I heard a soccer dad say that very thing about the iphone today.
This argument attempts to make Apple’s incredibly loyal customer base a liability rather than an asset. Yes, they concede, these mentally deficient worshipers of Apple will buy anthing Apple. But what about “the rest of us”.
Consuers do not buy products because they are made by Apple. They buy Apple products becasue Apple makes them with the consumer in mind. Instead of viewing Apples loyal customer base as some kind of liability, analysts shoud be asking: “Just how good are Apples products that they can count on a million people buying them sight unseen?”
“…large group of customers…”
Huh?????
An estimated 22 MILLION Macs in use and we’re described as a large “group”?
Awwww, c’mon – that’s more than one Mac for every person in the entire state of TEXAS.
Couldn’t he do better than “group”?
@ken1w said: “But do you know why Apple’s competition has to offer “more choices” than Apple. That’s the only way they can distinguish themselves from Apple. “We have inferior products, but we offer more freedom for the customer than Apple.” “
Falkirk: I disagree with you but only in degree, not in principal. I think you can easily document the fact that many of Apple’s ipod competitors had “more choices” before the ipod existed and before the ipod became dominant. And analyalys continue to skewer the ipod for not having a laundry list of features (like a radio). Those criticims have been muted becasue of the market dominance of the ipod, but if you want to see the analysts true colors, read the reviews of the Apple TV. Much of these reviews talk about what the Apple neglected to add – DVR, DVD playback, etc.
I will agree with ken1w on two things. The Ipods competitors are really stuck on the horns of a dilema. The ipod is so strong in the core functions that the competitors are left scrambling for fringe features to distinguish their products (like “squirting”).
Also, I agree with you that it is Jobs – not Apple – that is responsible for this fanatical devotion to simplicity. I read a book on the ipod (“shuffle”) that talked about Jobs fanatical insistance that the original Ipod only have 4 buttons. They said it was all they could do to force him to accept the fifth button that is now in the middle of the Ipod “wheel”.
I mean, c’mon! The thing doesn’t even have an on off switch (which received criticism). Amazing.
‘Apple’s secret ingredient? A large group of very satisfied customers’
Yep, just like dollar night down there at the Sonic. Bunch of damn happy folks, there was….
Well, Microsoft has Zune Tang…
The problem is not with choice per se, or even with numbers: as the article so clearly demonstrate, it is only better to have fewer “choices” as long as there are sufficient opportiunities to >customize<. When choice is clear and simple, even if plentiful, there is both freedom >and< satisfaction. In fact (and despite the story of Henry Ford’s “any color as long as it’s black”), the thought of increasing satisfaction by limiting choice is like Orwell’s “War is Peace.” It’s not the choices that are wrong, but the way they are presented: clearly or confusingly.
There are many individual models of iMac, for instance, in addition to screen size, but those secondary choices do not distract from the iMac “family name” – the customer is helped rather than confused, and the company’s reputation for customer-focus is enhanced.
lwbrown:
I love how iPod still comes in iPod, Nano, and Shuffle. Sure, there are more detailed descriptions (3G) but those are mainly used for support purposes. When you want an iPod, you want the latest iPod. That’s it.
I’m a reasonably informed computer user and darned if I know just what Sansa people are buying nowadays.
I wasn’t aware there was a “secret”.
I’m a LaCie fan as well. They make good products too.
To each their own. Some people are happy buying crap from the dollar store.
Now THIS is an article I will give hits to. Fantastic explanation!
Attention to detail? Yes! even on stuff that you think wouldn’t matter. Like the box the t-shirt comes in when you are early enough at an Apple Store opening. Never mind that it is in a box instead of just a bunch of shirts in a bag. The box is a one piece seamless origami type shirt holder. No glue, no staples, no nothing. It just opens up like some sort of cardboard lotus blossum. If they sweat the details on the little stuff that shouldn’t matter, especially on a giveaway item, then that tells me that the odds are good that they sweat the details on the things that do!
There is great video online that goes into this topic of choice, and how too much choice makes people less happy.
http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=b_schwartz
This is part of the TEDtalks podcast, an excellent and thought provoking series. This is not even one of the best videos in the series, but it’s a good video one none-the-less and takes on this topic in a very clear and articulate way.
Apple products are such a no-brainer. They are well conceived. practical, easy to use and last. Why is this such a difficult concept for the masses to understand? Maybe its because the lemings can only see as far as the axxhole in front of them.
Great article. I like the last sentence best:
“Apple’s “loyalists” are no more than very happy, deeply satisfied customers, and their competitors should learn from that.”
I just hope that it will take a little longer for the competitors to realize that fact.
To anyone that has not succumbed to the Apple magic, it must seem weird that there is a bunch of people out there who are so fanatical about a company and its products.
I am sure most of us would say to anyone who DOESN’T like the Mac, “Go and try it, you will like it.” with the expectation that they will. After 2 years of using a Mac I would never contemplate moving back to Windows…
However, my first experience with all things Apple was in the days of OS 9, 8 and earlier, when Macs were used in business occasionally, but crashed frequently and reliable support people (who shaved, wore shoes and worked daylight hours) were hard to find.
My first experiences with things Apple persuaded me that Apple afficianados were just the sort of people who would, today, by anything other than an iPod just because they didn’t want to go with the crowd.
So I would like to hear from those long-term Apple fans who were using Apple in the days when they did fall over far too frequently and it was hard to find people who knew enough to sort them out. Why did you stick with Apple then?
@Gurry said: This is part of the TEDtalks podcast, an excellent and thought provoking series.
Falkirk: Thanks for the tip. I signed up of the podcasts. I’ll give them a try.
Why did I stick with Mac since System 7.1? Well, I learned my way through extensions, control panels, MacsBug(sp?) and all sort of memory managing problems, and found out that it was still MUCH easier than configuring a Win95 shitbox.
Had one or two viruses, but Disinfectant was all I ever need.
That’s why.
MW: standard. Yup, Mac sets the standard in easy configuring since early on.