Focus Product Innovation On User Experience And Ease Of Use

Afterwards CNN.com launched their redesign in October (before & after screenshots and analysis here), I found myself without a convenient home for news relevant to my interests and attention span.

 

Old design = 20 headlines to scan. New design = 72 headlines to scan.

 

Previously, CNN.com provided a 2-headline synopsis of across 10 categories and at any given time throughout the day, I could visit their homepage and get a quick run-down of all that was going on in the world.

With the latest redesign, this quick run-down became much more time-consuming. And there was no way to tailor the news categories to my preferences. The previous website didn’t offer this option either and was less important, but the new design now features 6 headlines across 12 categories.

 

 

Google’s “news” personalization, simplicity, and path of least resistance wins

 

I ventured upon news.google.com and found it quite easy to personalize the sections I am interested as well as sort them in the order of importance I want them to be in. This feature in itself was enough to win me over — the way in which they aggregate news from multiple publications is also a benefit.

CNN.com’s one-size-fits-all approach to homepage news doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I’ve abandoned them because I’ve found an alternate service that meets my needs. What’s interesting is CNN provides unique content but this is not enough to win me over because it’s too difficult to get the information I desire quickly.

 

A commoditized business should focus product innovation on user experience and ease of use

 

“News” as a product is commoditized and is partially why newspapers are on the decline. If the product research or delivery mechanism doesn’t cater to the changing needs of consumers or customers, then business will be lost to the competitive set. This concept applies to virtually all business, and not just news websites.

CNN.com offers a beautiful new redesign, but has chosen a path that devalues consumers who share my news-consumption preference. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but through further insight-gathering and subsequent innovation with their website, they would recapture my interest.