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“So many haters had just prepared their Marmite wrong!”
Happy to see @jonnyburch newslettering again. I enjoyed this one about Marmite and first-time user experiences. It inspired me to put some bread in the toaster and do some overthinking... https://500wordfounder.substack.com/p/first-steps
Happy to see @jonnyburch newslettering again. I enjoyed this one about Marmite and first-time user experiences. It inspired me to put some bread in the toaster and do some overthinking... https://500wordfounder.substack.com/p/first-steps
Our first time with @marmite literally rests on a knife edge. @jonnyburch writes "spread Marmite on too thick... and any chance of your first Marmite experience being a good one goes out of the window." Marmite must know it loses first-timers this way, so why not do more to help?
For most products, losing first-time users over a misunderstanding like this could be fatal. For Marmite, it isn't. Why? Well the truth is I don't know. But stopping here wouldn't make for a very interesting thread! And my toast isn't ready yet, so join me as I go noodling...
A quick search delivered a news article from 2006 when Marmite launched a squeezy bottle. The new bottle was easier to use, cleaner. Marmite fans hated it. Their knee-jerk reaction suggests that the value of Marmite is more than the spread itself. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/marmite-how-do-you-eat-yours-417161.html
That reminded me of this article I'd read about @burningman, in which @benjaminwachs writes that the difficulty of getting to Black Rock Desert makes the experience of being at the festival even more remarkable. "Those obstacles make [it] what it is". https://journal.burningman.org/2020/04/philosophical-center/tenprinciples/trapped-in-the-multiverse-what-should-a-digital-burning-man-be/
Perhaps half the fun of Marmite is having a bad experience with it. In fact, according to Marmite, that's one of two options available: "Love It Or Hate It". Either way we can join the conversation, we can be part of the idea, and that's worth something to users and Marmite both.
Stumbling with a tool provides little value. That's why @jonnyburch Zooms first-time users of @progressionapp. It's also why we should never run with scissors. But if Marmite came with instructions, wouldn't that squeeze out some of the fun? Anyway my toast is ready. I chose jam.
