One of my core beliefs about online startups is how they have to delight users. It means offering users a service that addresses their needs in a user-friendly, intuitive and accessible way to meet a need or solve a problem.
Without the delight “factor”, most startups will struggle to capture the attention and loyalty of users no matter how well they are at digital marketing, social media, media coverage, etc.
For anyone looking for an excellent example of delight, here’s one I discovered recently: Connected, which was recently acquired by LinkedIn. As part of the deal, Connected has gone from $9.99/month to free.
Connected is a customer relationship management service that describes itself as “the easiest way to manage your professional contacts”. For anyone who has used CRM, they can be labour-intensive and not terribly user-friendly, particularly for small business owners who don’t have the time to constantly update and tend a database.
A CRM Made Easy
What makes Connected different and delightful is the ease of creating and maintaining a contact database and, as important, getting information and intelligence out of it.
Connected’s power starts with the ability to import contacts from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, address books, applications such as Google Voice and Evernote, and e-mail marketing tools such as MailChimp and Constant Contact. In little time, Connected creates an extensive database that can then be searched, annotated, enhanced and expanded.
Even more delightful is the ability to look up a contact, and quickly see recent status updates on Twitter and LinkedIn, blog posts, their LinkedIn profile, mutual contacts and a healthy amount of personal information (e-mail address, corporate information and personal Web sites such as their blog, speaking About.me page, etc.)
For anyone who has resisted the use of CRM or never thought about using a CRM, Connected is a simple and straightforward way to use a tool that offers lots of information, easy navigation and plenty of value without investing a lot of time and effort.
In other words, Connected has created a CRM that delights, which probably explains why it was snapped up by LinkedIn.
