With any new technology, there’s nothing better than feedback from the average user. If you’re ever ideating, creating, developing, and/or activating any sort of interactive experience, test with real people, early and often. They’ll give you a better sense of what works, what doesn’t, tendencies, assumptions, etc. than anyone on your team can.
I’ve written about Coke’s 106 Flavors interactive touch screen soda fountain a couple of times here. I’ve observed “average users” using it, but I haven’t ever heard direct feedback from anyone about it.
The other day, I was out to lunch with someone who I would consider to be an average user and they interacted with this soda fountain. Here’s how it went:
He presses the ice button. Fills the ice.
“…..these newfangled contraptions.”
Presses the Coke button, gets 6 different flavors of Coke.
“OK, I guess this is what I do.”
Fills his cup full of Coke.
“There you go. Even I – with limited intellect – can operate this.”
And that was it. So, he operated it without futzing through the experience. He and I were chatting in line, so the operational component of this machine – the waiting for 1 person to fill their soda before we can move closer – was not an issue.
I still think there’s a disproportionate tradeoff between the number of soda choices you get (106) and the number of people who can get ice & soda at a time (1), but based on my testing group of 1, moving through a new experience like this via touch screen technology, it passed with flying colors.