cruel to be kind

Meet Jane Geek is the title of an interesting article in business week, and if you ever wondered, why you should care about women in tech, then you should go read it.

I especially liked this quote:

Women are far less likely than men to feign understanding of new technology, and thus they expect a high level of customer service.

Oh and I suggest you go and read the books of Paco Underhill and combine that with the estimated sales power of women.

And yes, I do buy gadgets. Not as much as an absolute geek, but I very likely to spend money when I want something. Additionally, I am ‘in charge’ for two more ‘households’ aka members of my family regarding what to buy. If I don’t approve, it will not get shopped. (Hopefully. My mom is running to get a DSL because we still have her on dial up).

While I am more technical knowledgeable than many women, I am also more receptive to ‘geeky’ explanations. A normal women does not care about 200 extra features, if product X does not fulfill its main function. She does not care so much about +100 features if she does not like the color.

Those are absolute valid arguments for shopping – and it is for the producers to recognize this and stop building more features into it. And start adding some colors. Like for example on notebooks or computers. I once had a client with a very unique desktop in maroon. She specifically picked that vendor because he would give her that color she wanted, so she could match her room.

Bonus selling tip: Women are highly likely to free the budget for a new computer if it will not be any more this ‘ugly black / beige machine’.

Tags: Marketing