PRODUCT PROFILE TO REDUCE CONSUMER DISSATISFACTION IN TERMS OF SOFT USABILITY PROBLEM AND DEMOGRAPHICAL FACTORS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

As consumer electronic products have increased in complexity and users of those products are still from a broad variety of the population, new complaints related to product usability are identified. Consumer dissatisfaction is increasingly caused by soft usability problems they experience, problems that have nothing to do with technical failure. This phenomenon bothers companies of electronic products because it will probably lead to a decrease of brand loyalty. Therefore, the paper explores the relationship between soft usability problems, demographical factors and product attributes through a survey of 102 users from the Netherlands and South Korea. The results reveal that product profiles in terms of product complexity and product intimacy are related with specific soft usability problems and some demographical factors. This finding implies that a product profile can be a useful source of understanding problems experienced with them. Moreover, it can help preventing usability problems leading to an increase of consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Copyright