The Usability of Ravioli

Tonight, my almost thirty, married self learned how to cook packaged ravioli properly for the first time. This is a staple that fed me through grad school, that I’ve had the skills to make for probably twenty plus years, and yet it’s taken this long for me to make it properly

Why?

Well you just boil water, throw it in and cook right? Apparently not.

When I read the directions on my Rising Moon Organics Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Ravioli (which is delicious by the way) I learned that to get the true ravioli experience, it’s a bit more careful than boil and eat.

Apparently you should never throw ravioli into a rolling boil, but instead should turn the heat down after the water comes to a boil, and at that point put the ravioli in. Then instead of draining it in a strainer, you should scoop them out with a strained spoon. It’s those few details that create a truly delicious ravioli experience.

It was at this moment, that I had a customer experience epitome. You can lead a ravioli to water, but that doesn’t mean it will be cooked properly. We need to understand how customers experience our company or product in situ to truly know whether or not they are experiencing it as intended.

Too many companies out there assume they know how people engage. I’m sure other ravioli packages have the proper instructions, but what difference does it make if their customers don’t read it? Had I not stopped to read the directions, I never would have made this realization.

So thank you Rising Moon Organics for not assuming I knew how to make the most of your product.

Part 3 - Inspiration: What primary, qualitative research provides, that no other means can

Another reason that I love primary qualitative research is the output. Ethnography in its best form is multi-media and multi-dimensional. It’s a combination of text, video, voice, and photographs. Most importantly, a key tenet of ethnography is storytelling.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the number of research deliverables or presentations I’ve seen that clearly have no shelf life beyond that single moment in time. They are boring, wordy, and full of numbers. Ad Age recently wrote about how this is hurting the industry here. So tell me, why spend thousands of dollars on research that is a one-hit wonder?

We all know the power of good storytelling. Ethnography and other in-context methods can produce some really amazing stories told through narrative and video. When compiled properly they are not only insightful, but they are inspirational and they live well beyond the research deliverable and final presentation.

It’s amazing how we or our clients can tell a story about one of our customers, but when you hear it from the horses mouth in a video or audio clip, it has exponential power. Time and again I’ve seen stories like these retold again and again, up through the ranks even to the C-Suite of Fortune 500 companies. This is a power that I have yet to see from quantitative research - but I'm sure some people get inspired by numbers :)