Pop quiz: Think of an amazing feature you offer for all of your customers. Do you mention that feature on your webstore?
Alert reader Liesbeth recently shared with me an example of a company promoting something important that I never even thought to mention on our product listings.
Big Potato makes a game called Nice Buns, and in the product listing they include a mention of “Free replacement parts”. Now, many publishers–including Stonemaier Games–offer free replacement parts, but it’s just something we do. We don’t promote it on our product pages.
But why not? As Liesbeth mentioned to me, when she read this on the product listing, she was reassured as a customer that Big Potato would take care of her if the game arrived incomplete or if she lost a piece in the future. This gave her a good feeling about the company and relieved a potential stress point.
I talked to our web developer about this, and we’re in the process of revamping our product listings to organize information more like Big Potato does. Initially, we’ll include a mention of these bonus features:
- Free replacement parts
- 20-day price guarantee
- Real-time rule support in forums
While thinking about this, I have to say that it was an interesting (and somewhat difficult) exercise in finding the things we already do for our customers and products that are awesome but almost never highlighted. In any customer-focused company, these things become so engrained that you don’t think to mention them.
There’s always plenty of room for improvement, but for now I came up with the following list of things that could be added to a “bonus features” list. Some are product-specific, while others are more global:
- fits on Kallax shelf
- eco-friendly bags/wood/cardboard/etc
- short setup time
- colorblind friendly
- language independence
- continued support (no out of print as long as there’s demand)
- character diversity (ethnicity, gender, age, etc)
- level of playtesting (e.g., 100+ playtests)
- easy-peel shrinkwrap
- insert fits sleeved cards
- intelligent autonomous solo system (added late to this list)
- table footprint (added late to this list)
- digital promo code included (added late to this list)
What would you add to this list, either something awesome your company does or something many companies do that they should highlight more often on product listings?
Also, of these oft-unmentioned features, which are the most likely to increase your confidence in the product and the company? Here’s a poll to make it easier to share your thoughts:
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Also read: Replacement Parts: Why Would (or Wouldn’t) a Company Offer This Service?
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13 Comments on “You’re Already Awesome…but Do Your Customers Know Why?”
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This is a great point. You definitely see people getting excited about cool things publishers are doing (which is great), when it’s already being done elsewhere without hoopla. Always good to make your laurels obvious.
In terms of specific adds that might be helpful (spitballing here):
– Multiple game modes / difficulties
– Expandable base game
– Discounted digital version (I appreciated this with wingspan)
– Active community
Thanks Jasper! These are great ideas, and I particularly like “digital promo code included” and “active community”.
I may be the odd one out here but…I prefer when a company does not advertise those things. This feels like resume writing: most people agree that “Experience using word processor and using internet browsers” should be removed from most resumes. Although it is a skill that is be needed in many jobs, but it is assumed. By removing the fluff and focusing on important things (5 years experience or bachelor in such and such) the possible employer will not waste time looking for content.
Charterstone’s features (https://store.stonemaiergames.com/products/charterstone) are strong, compelling and very unique. If you add to that list 10+ items that are kind of assumed (like 100+ playtests), to me it cheapens the impact of the powerful 5 unique features of the game.
I have been thinking about this further and I’m probably odd here, but there are some points that seem important to me, but that would rub me weird if i saw them listed on a publisher’s site. The one that stands out the most is playtesting. Without a clear concept of how much playtesting is done for other games on the market (and with knowledge that high number of hours doesn’t necessarily mean high quality), i don’t know how that could be worded in a way that doesn’t make me feel skeptical.
In addition: With many Stonemaier games having a large table footprint, if there was a comment about a game fitting on a table or being small, I would wonder if that meant small when compared to a mammoth game or small by own standards.
And for the bullet point about continued support, I love that you follow that philosophy, but as a consumer, I would be wondering why that would be a benefit for me at the time of purchase. I can see it being helpful if I am unsure if something may be time-limited or if the game is one that having multiple copies makes a gameplay difference.
Thanks for sharing these thoughts. Based on the votes, the top 3 seem to be short setup time, eco-friendliness, and that the insert fits sleeved cards, so perhaps those can be the 3 I add to product listings?
It won’t stop people from asking, but I feel that the #1 question asked about your new games is whether the insert fits sleeved cards :) – so yes, I would definitely add that.
Colorblindness issues and language dependance are also helpful for people to choose a game that works for them. The eco friendly stuff I am super into, but I think that is better listed on a company page in detail (as you have done).
I also agree that some of these could seem like unnecessary self-promotion, like playtesting.
Character diversity is by far the most important factor for my main game group, which is me and my two teenage daughters. We always look for both characters who reflect the way we look as women, and broader diversity because it’s something we believe is important. Having three playable female characters is ideal (like Scythe!) However, that is not always enough – some games have plenty of female characters but very poor representation in the way they are depicted. We love Outlive, but all the women have excessive cleavage and are very young. The gold standard for us so far has been Forgotten Waters, as I can play an older woman and my daughter can play a plump character, and these characters are cool, tough and attractive without being scantily clad. Age, body shape and disability diversity is often overlooked by designers and gender and racial diversity could still be better, with white male characters still a majority in so many games.
Table footprint is also important for us and probably many other people. I like the narrow player boards for Scythe as they can fit around the large board on a standard dining table, whereas the Tapestry player boards are too big and require inconvenient arrangement. Having two or three smaller player boards that you can arrange yourself is something I always prefer over one large board.
Thanks for sharing this, Sarah, and that’s a great point about going beyond diversity. How would you phrase it for this purpose?
You know, I thought about table footprint, and perhaps I shouldn’t have thought twice about it. I can see that being a bigger factor than fitting on a shelf. Thanks!
What’s best described with photos versus text? I agree both diversity and table footprint are important but I think they are best shown in photos. Is kind of the golden rule of writing: show, don’t tell!
I wonder about including more info about solo. I don’t know exactly how to parse it down to a bullet point for you, but my thinking is: Some games’ solo play is just a “beat your own score” where you make sure it gets a full development process of its own.
I like that!
• Comes with that awesome Stonemaier Automa solo play!
+1 to Jamie’s note. Not everyone makes the effort you do, and it is a marvelous part of the product.
Thanks! Though I can’t take any credit for Automa–that’s all Morten and his team. I’m just happy to publish their work! :)