Brant and I got the chance to spend Mother’s Day with his mother in Houston. I got a much-needed chance to lounge around in PJ’s watching shows about baking while Brant helped his Mom install new quarter round.
The drive between Austin and Houston along Highway 290 isn’t particularly scenic, but I do enjoy passing through the little towns with their antique shops and feed stores as we return home on Sunday afternoons.
Alongside the familiar local businesses that have sustained themselves along the course of time, we’ve seen several new businesses spring up over time. Some are still around while others seemed to have shut their doors within a matter of months, closed by the next time we passed through.
Today as we drove through the sweet little town of Giddings, Texas, I noticed a yellow roadside barn labeled “Espresso Bar”. I started thinking about the risks it takes to open up a small business in hopes that your target customers will find it appealing. An out-of-towner who move in to open a business must do his research to be certain that his idea stands a chance of success in the area. But even a life-long resident who thinks he knows the needs and interests of the townspeople is rolling the dice when he makes assumptions about what will or won’t succeed.
Any smart entrepreneur does his homework to understand the real market opportunity in an area before plunking down the cash to start a venture. The time and expense that goes into such research is probably the best form of insurance to protect his investment against the risk of failure due to poor assumptions.
Like they say, to assume is to make an ass out of you and me, right?
By now, you may be wondering what this has to do with user experience. The connection is simple. For a company to assume that it understands its target users on the web is no different than for a local entrepreneur to assume that he knows his target customers.
With a small business, failure is apparent. The money runs out. The bills go unpaid. The doors close. Online, failure can be much more subtle. Perhaps your site is driving away the leads it should be capturing — and you don’t even know it.
The next time you come across a failed espresso bar(n) in a town with just one stoplight, remember – research is the best form of insurance you can buy.
See also
Ha, fair enough. Cheers to the little yellow coffee barn. Here’s to hoping its still there next Mother’s Day.
We made the same drive on Sunday and I noticed that yellow espresso barn too. With a Starbucks drive-through down the street, I am encouraged there is a market for espresso at all. Good luck little yellow coffee barn.