Users, Not Customers

Users, Not Customers: Who Really Determines the Success of Your Business by Aaron Shapiro, 243 pages

In Users, Not Customers, Shapiro turns our focus to the digital users of a business rather than the tried-and-true customers. Shapiro argues that users--here defined as digital followers or users of websites, with an emphasis on "digital--are the key to creating a successful business, and outlines the ways in which a company can capitalize on this segment.

While Shapiro makes some excellent points about website usability and rolling out tech innovations at the right time (it does your company no good to be first to market with something if it's riddled with bugs or if the supporting tech isn't yet ubiquitous), a lot of what he says may be difficult for a small company to implement. Paradoxically, it also sounds difficult for well-established brick-and-mortar businesses to make the switch to user-centric design without some major cash going into it. There's a lot to be gleaned from this book, though I don't know that many companies can use all of it, at least not all at once. It's worth a read though, if your business is in the market for a digital overhaul.