Macadamian Blog

Poor UX in Ford Sync sinks Ford in JD Power

One of our beliefs at Macadamian is that user experience and software quality are intertwined. To the end-customer, a poorly designed UI creates the impression that the product is of low quality, even if the code is well crafted and well tested. Likewise, poor engineering and quality control (bugs, crashes, etc) create a very poor user experience. Now, the quality and the user experience design of the software embedded in everyday objects - cars, appliances, etc. - are influencing customer's perceptions of the overall quality of the product. 

Witness this year's JD Power's automotive quality ratings - the automotive industry's go-to guide on initial vehicle quality. Despite making huge advances in overall build quality, interior design, ride quality, and ergonomics,  Ford dropped from a 5th place ranking to 23rd. Why? Customers complained that Ford's new in-vehicle entertainment system, Sync, and MyFord Touch, are buggy, overly complex, and hard to use. I'm one of those customers - my Ford Flex is a wonderful vehicle, but if I try to use the voice recognition to turn on the radio, Sync turns on the air conditioning. The drop in ratings shouldn't be a surpise to Ford or anyone in the industry - the same thing happened to BMW a few years ago with their much maligned iDrive system. 

What's the lesson? Same as always:

1. More overall attention to design - especially some concept testing with real users - would have uncovered most of the issues with the latest version of Sync. 
2. Err on the site of fewer features. Typically there are only a few your customers will really find valuable and use daily. Packing features into a product just because you think they are cool is so 90s.
3. You always have to be willing to cut or delay a feature that simply isn't market-ready, no matter what you have invested and how much you've hyped it. It almost always comes back to bite you.