Being a Product Manager I see in many companies a predisposition to focus myopically on their product and ignore customer concerns. The concept of “user error” or of the never satisfied customer ends up propping up an unrealistic valuation of their products. I see articles like this one linked every so often, while humorous the conviction that some of the people have who send such articles is disturbing.

Anyone in business should value and appreciate their customers as this is the lifeblood of the business. While of course there are exceptions to any rule, there is something to be said for the phrase “the customer is always right”.

The Great Sony Exploding Battery Experiment
I’m picking on Sony a little bit here, as there was more at play than just ignoring/not listening to the customer; this was however a substantial contribution to their painful lesson.

In August of 2006 it became apparent that Dell had a serious safety issue with their laptops, they had found that an unacceptable number of them had a tendency to over-heat and possibly explode. Dell had purchased these batteries from Sony who was a leading manufacturer of Lithium-Ion batteries. Dell proceeded to contact Sony about the problem, being a concerned customer. The answer coming back from Sony bordered on arrogance and completely ignored the seriousness of Dell’s inquiry:

“It is the configuration. We use the same batteries in our Vaios, and have our own safeguards against potential overheating. Other manufacturers which use the same cells haven’t come forward with any issues. On rare occasions, a short circuit can occur, but this is affected by systems configurations found in different laptops,” the representative said.

It’s unimaginable to think this was Sony’s reaction, knowing now what we do about Sony’s continued problems with batteries. Eventually the evidence began to build that this was a far reaching problem that impacted nearly every customer of Sony’s including: Lenovo, IBM, Fujitsu, Dell, Apple, and yes even Sony itself.

At some point it would come down to a full public apology from the executives to try and rebuild a troubled brand, but even here Sony took a tone that seemed to diminish the real and legitimate concerns of their customers. Here are some great examples of quotes that were coming from the company:

“The company should have investigated the cause of the battery problem more quickly,” he (Sony president Ryoji Chubachi) said. “The worries over the batteries spread as a result.” In the interview

“This is not a safety issue,” said Naofumi Hara, a Sony spokesman. “This is about addressing people’s concerns which have become a social problem, and we made the managerial decision that the recall was necessary.”

“maintained that the short-circuiting happens only very rarely and only in certain ways that the battery is connected in a system with laptop models, or if the laptop is used improperly and gets bumped around.” AP via Engadget 

Final Tally
Sony ended up having to offer a recall on 9.6 million batteries, with an estimated cost of $427 million which dramatically reduced their earnings for the year. In addition to the cost the damage to Sony’s credibility, and brand image was unimaginable.

 
Conclusion
The example that is shown by Sony is a worst case scenario type of situation that can happen when you ignore your customers. Even some of the responses such as claiming that a laptop is only at risk if it’s used improperly or getting bumped around are absurd. Laptops are mobile computers that a reasonable person could expect to get jostled, or moved around during operation. Additionally, even if something is somewhat absurd such as sticking a powered on laptop in a bag these are the types of things you should be testing your product for.

 Not every decision will have this level of consequences, but every decision you reach should be done with your customer in mind. If your customer has any problems with your product, they are your problems too. Addressing problems directly and thoughtfully will garner goodwill and grow your brand.