Feature creep is a phenomenon where a company layers more features than intended onto their product, to the point where this feature density decreases the usability and adoptability of the product. In regards to setting up a product for consumer adoption, it can be easy to fall into a trap of believing that the more features a product has, the more likely any consumer will find the features they are looking for within the subset of product features already included and adopt the new product. However, feature creep can instead make a company lose track of its original goals- losing customers loyal to an original product and wasting resources on features that do not end up helping customer adoptability. This falls in line with what was described in the article- that businesses would be better off setting a good initial strategy that relies on decreasing behavior change necessary for users rather than expecting users to adopt their products based purely on aggregations of new features. Product managers would be able to avoid falling into this trap by ensuring that the market strategy focuses on minimizing necessary customer behavior change, setting overall company goals and priorities and ensuring that new proposed features adhere to them, and limiting and focusing on set core features.
This minimization of behavior change is based off the concept of loss aversion- where customers care much more about what they would be losing in adopting a new product versus the new benefits they would receive. Thus, customers balk when a product requires them to change a habit they have long set (even if it may not be the best method) or replace a benefit- perceived or otherwise- with other hosts of benefits. Product managers can thus use this psychological knowledge to prioritize minimizing the amount a customer would need to change their behavior when adopting the product- integrating well known other solutions for instance, or seeing if adopting another product’s benefits fit their products’ scope. This is done as to ensure that customers have interest in considering a product’s new features in the first place.
