Tag: software

Eating Your Own Dog Food: Make More Money, Reduce Refunds And Minimize Customer Support

In programming, there is a phrase called, "Eating Your Own Dog Food", which to my surprise almost no marketers know about it, almost no MBAs know about it, and almost no programmers know about this phrase.  It is so important, not just in programming, but in writing, in real life, in presenting and in copywriting.

Here's What "Eating Your Own Dog Food" Really Means...

It means test your stuff!

When you think of dog food, it's not very appetizing is it?  You probably would not eat it.  But what if you had to?  If you had to eat dog food, you might make it with better ingredients.  You might make it with different ingredients so that it would taste better for you.

It is the same idea with your own websites and reports. If you were the one using your software programs, if you were the one using your blog or your membership site, what would you change to make it easier for you to find your own information?

Think about Microsoft Word. When you open up Microsoft Word, what is the first thing that happens?  It automatically opens up a new blank document.  You don't have to navigate to open up something new.  By default, it guesses that you are going to write something brand new.  It saves you a little bit of time every time you open up that word processor.

What about the iPod music player? I notice that sometimes when I am listening to my iPod or iPhone and I yank out the ear-phone jack, the music player will automatically mute itself.  Back when I had a DiscMan, WalkMan, or tape recorder and I was listening to something through head-phones, and the head-phones were accidently disconnected, it would immediately switch to the speakers.

Nine times out of ten, I did not want it to broadcast out of the speakers.  That's why when they created an iPod they added this extra feature so you would not accidentally broadcast your music.

It makes it much more convenient because if you are listening to something on your iPod or iPhone and you are done listening through the head-phones, simply unplug and it mutes itself.

I use this logic all the time in the real world. For example, back when I had a day job, I created a web page that submitted a form that took a while to load.  People testing it noticed when students were waiting for this long form to load, they would click the submit button multiple times.

What I did was greyed out these submit buttons, so after they clicked it once, they could not click it again.  You might see this in sites such as PayPal.  When you click the pay button, you only want to pay once.

The best story of Eating Your Own Dog Food, which I am not sure is true, is from Michael Fortin.  Apparently, Michael released some kind of VHS video tape about copywriting.  He sold a thousand copies.  Only one person asked for a refund.  The person said that the video tape was blank.  As it turned out a mistake was made and all 1000 video tapes were blank.  Because no one had tested it, and none of the customers had even played the tape, nobody knew the tapes were blank.

How Do You "Eat Your Own Dog Food" in Your Business?

Do you have instruction manuals or software manuals?  If you keep getting the same questions asked over and over, integrate those into your manuals. I have revised my manuals for products such as "PaySensor" and "Action PopUp" hundreds of times to the point where the first page gives people the quick-start guide.

Certain phrases people still miss, even with the written instructions.  I have bolded, made them red, and increased the font just to cut down on the amount of customer support.  On my blog, I have adjusted things such as moving the search box higher in the side bar.  I've used plug-ins such as Psychic Search to figure out what people are looking for and what they aren't finding.

After I setup a membership site, I create a user-level account to see what my users see when they first join it. This is how I sometimes can catch that the category bar is missing, or that the site needs a search box, or that certain posts need to be stickied or moved to the top so people can easily find information, or even create special side bar widgets that give easy links so they can quickly navigate to different areas of the site.

Even if none of these options apply to you, read your own reports, your own articles, your own blog posts. You might notice that you are not giving a clear picture of what needs to be done.  Maybe you need to add a step by step blueprint or checklist.  If you follow along the different steps you are providing in your report, you are missing a crucial chapter.

For example, in one of my reports I talk about how to dictate a lot of articles and get them transcribed.  I noticed going back weeks later using my own report, I missed the step about getting applicants who transcribe a job to take a test.  I filled in that missing chapter.

This should be common sense.  I still have to tell it to you: Eat Your Own Dog Food! Test your stuff.

Use Your Own Sites, And See How Your Front End Appears To People Who Are Trying To Find You!

If people are searching a certain phrase in Google to find you, what are they searching for?  When people are on your sales letter and there is a video on that page, is it clear where the play button is?  If someone goes through the check-out process of your site, is it clear how they can get their download?  Do you have an email follow up sequence in place to ensure that they download your product, that they consume it, and that they actually get to the end and get the results they were looking for?  If not, you have more work to do.

You will thank me later because you will reduce refunds, spend less time on customer support, and make more sales by Eating Your Own Dog Food.

Question Time!  Do you eat your own dog food? In what way?  How are you going to do a better job of dog fooding in the future?

Comment below, right now.  It's 100% free.