Why is it that every year there’s 2-3 companies that pop up and think sticking LED lights onto snowboards is a great business plan?
This year it seems that company is called ‘LED Snowboards’ (not to be confused with BoardGlow or whatever the last 50 companies trying this were called).
Stupid… so very stupid:
What’s wrong with this product (besides that the whole idea is stupid):
1) They didn’t check to see if anyone wanted this product
Spend 5 minutes on any major snowboarding forum and you will find out quickly that this product will not be popular.
Sorry but random friends and family that say “Oh that’s a good idea!” is not enough market research when making snowboard products. How about actually asking the community BEFORE making prototypes of the useless product.
2) Don’t try to change something you don’t understand
I’m glad they tried snowboarding, but a couple days on the snow is not enough experience in the sport to start engineering new snowboard products.
The best snowboard products were and are built by people who know the sport and who have spent large amounts of time in the sport.
3) You don’t even need to invent anything – just care more than everyone else.
While I admit that inventing something game changing in snowboarding would be quite awesome, you don’t need to do that. Heck, most snowboard gear comes from the same factories anyway.
You want to make an awesome product? How about you start by caring about your customers more than any other company.
Fact: The average snowboarder won’t know if the snowboard he’s riding is good or bad since most snowboards are decent and will get them down the hill.
You know what they will notice? They notice how companies take care of them and how they support their product.
We’re going to go off-topic now, but screw it, let’s go there.
The ultimate super genius way to make an awesome snowboard product that sells:
Step 1) Make a decent product that people will use. Nearly every company makes a half decent product that people use, so this is clearly not the problem.
(note: no, LED lights for my snowboard does not count as a decent product people will use)
Step 2) Go actively help your customer out.
Basically no one does this second part. It boggles my mind that snowboard companies don’t actively go out seeking to help their customers.
The fact is that most snowboard companies hope their customer doesn’t contact them because then they have to troubleshoot and spend time and money to help them out.
They should want customers to contact them. They should actively ask what more they could do to help out their customers.
Here’s a freebie for any snowboard company out there:
- Go make an online forum
- Put a huge sticker on every snowboard product you sell that tells your customers to sign up for free lifetime support at this forum.
- Employ a few knowledgable snowboarders to monitor the forum 24/7
- Have your new snowboarder employees research and answer ANY snowboard related question. Everything from ‘what size snowboard to get’ up to ‘how to turn correctly’ and ‘which hot dog stand at Whistler offers the best hot dogs’ (hint the last answer is Zog’s Dogs).
I’m willing to bet huge that any snowboard company willing to do this and go that far for their customers would see huge results, far more impact than whatever their current gimmick feature is.
And while we’re at it can all snowboard companies please stop re-tweeting compliments about their companies while ignoring actual customers tweeting questions?
Anyhow… wow, that went off topic.
- Jed
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Very true. The reason why customer support is so important in the first place is due to mass production, and production mistakes which result from that. So people need to complain on a regular basis due to manufacturing mistakes.
If the research and quality of a product would go up, the cost would go up but durability would go up as well and customer support for broken stuff could be used for other types of customer support (tips, maintenance, feedback, customer input, etc.).
But I think that for those big shot companies it’s less expensive to just replace an item that broke, than having to spend more time and money in a product that doesn’t break. Plus, if the products you make have a shorter lifespan, then you’re profit rises (as does the waste mountains). Welcome to the modern world.
Yeah companies definitely want you to keep buying their gear, so a snowboard that never breaks would probably lower their profit… although I do notice that most people who buy new snowboards end up buying more snowboards before their current one breaks.
Some people just like buying new boards every year :p
You’re right, it’s not because technology changes and advances every year that the way you ride also advances. That is just marketing brainwashing the public.
I have a freeride board from 2005, and I bought my freestyle lady in 2011. Since then I never went back to the freeride board even though that one really made me progress on the slopes. I will pick it up again one day. For now it has earned a place in my room and in my heart.
I’m sticking with my freestyle lady until she breaks (up with me).