Doing work so your users don't have to…

Amazon allows you to query their site to obtain information on items that are on sale. Unfortunately, this is a pain in the ass for individuals to use because you have to put the percentage discount you’re looking for in the URL parameter:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?node=172282&pct-off=90

download megamind full movie free

-&tag2=epicempire-20
(90% Off Deals in Electronics)

As startups, we need to create value for our users by investing time and energy and doing work for them so they can get to what they are looking for faster. Brand Name Coupons did this by creating a comprehensive page that allows users to run these searches with just one click. It’s not pretty, but its effective and hats off to them for taking the initiative to do it.

Brand Name Coupons Amazon Query PageWe’re striving to do the same thing at Judy’s Book. Our Holiday Shipping and Returns Policy Guide and the After-Christmas Sales Guide are examples of this. If we can continue to deliver value in this way, I believe we will build loyalty.

There’s a catch – delivering value for users means we have to work our asses off. It means paying people to work on Christmas weekend to enter data about offline sales information, it means scrambling to release data the instant it becomes available.
Cutting corners, avoiding getting your hands dirty and generally taking the easy way out is seductive, but it short-changes the people we’re working for. The good news is that if you can stay focused and put in the effort, it’s well worth it.

Our parents were right (damn it) – there are no shortcuts.

  • http://www.naffziger.net/blog/2007/01/17/interesting-cool-useful/ » Interesting, Cool & Useful – Naffziger’s Net

    [...] Doing work so your users don’t have to. If it were easy, you wouldn’t be creating value. [...]

  • http://www.naffziger.net/blog/2007/01/29/prices-from-143-florists-for-a-dozen-roses/ Prices from 143 florists for a dozen roses – Naffziger’s Net

    [...] Doing work so our users don’t have to, we called 143 florists from around the country and found out how much it would cost for a dozen roses on Valentine’s Day. [...]

  • http://www.jangle.net/ Dan

    A super site that I discovered recently for finding discounts at Amazon.com is jangle.net.

    You can easily browse the most popular products, sort by price, percent off, user rating and more.

    Somebody put some thought (and work) into this site, it is very easy to use.

  • http://www.rp0229.com/blog Rahul Pathak

    Dan,

    That is a well put together site. Is it yours?

    Rahul

  • http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2007/04/04/coupon-looker-launched/ Coupon Looker released at Starting Up by Rahul Pathak

    [...] We just released CouponLooker – an online coupon search engine – and a blog widget for coupon code searches within your blog today. Try out the site and let me know what you think. Our goal was to provide a site for users that aggregated coupon code information from the top coupon sites on the web to make it easier for users to save money when shopping online. This is in the spirit of doing work so users don’t have to. [...]

  • http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2007/08/23/awesome-local-deals-content-in-seattle-atlanta/ Awesome Local Deals Content in Seattle & Atlanta at Starting Up by Rahul Pathak

    [...] hard to find creative ways to get hard to find local content into the hands of users – basically, doing work so users don’t have to. As most people in and around the local online sector know, it’s hard to get great local [...]

  • http://www.jungle-search.com Chris

    I put together a version which hacks the URL in a similar way as Brand Name Coupons. Check out Jungle-Search.com to search Amazon.com by keyword, category, subcategory, percent off, brand name, price range and more. This site also includes a simple click-on-the-percentage-off-link interface like BNC.

    http://www.jungle-search.com