Why First Impressions Are Important

I do not have data for this, but my claim is that the first impression of your product will last much longer than other experiences with your product. My claim is that if the first impression of your product is bad, then you will need at least ten brilliant user experiences later on to rectify this.

The problem is, however, that you may never be given the chance to show your ten great user experiences, since the users may already have chosen to leave your website or stop using your device or software package.

My theory can be backed up as follows: if you get a bad first impression of a person you meet, it will most likely take a lot of time for that person to convince you to like him or her. And in many cases you will not even give this person the chance to show another side of themselves.

In the remainder of this chapter I will go through the characteristics of a good first impression, followed by some tangible methods for innovating around the first impressions of your product.