For a quality product, you need to start with the basics: understand the market and what they want. This is where it can get complex — not just making something people want, but choosing how to make it happen on time and budget.
We hear that all the time in product and service marketing and advertising presentations. “This is a high-quality item!”
Aaaarrrgggghhhhhh. Are we, as customers, expected to think that this entails high quality? Hardly.
Every product, every service, and every aspect of life has a level of quality (noun). What’s lacking from these statements is an adjective that specifies which characteristic is being praised.
- Excellent quality
- Inconsistent quality
- high-quality
- Unreliable quality
- Good quality
- Quality for export
- Exceptional quality
- mediocre quality
- Exceptional quality
- Quality at the point of sale
- High-end craftsmanship
- Quality at a discount
Do you see what I’m getting at? So take a long hard look at your goods or service, and then give us the advantage of a few superlative words if they’re warranted.
Of course, you may not wish to (or legally be allowed to) use high-quality words to describe your goods. So go ahead and do it. Remove them from the equation. But we’ll still be able to see the difference in quality…shabby. it’s
—Steve Lange, Palo Alto Software Senior Editor
