Greetings members of the Product Design and Surface Transportation Technical Groups. My apologies for those of you like me, who are a member of both TGs and for HFES's inability not to send you two copies of this. ;-)
I'm seeking your guidance in finding references. As digital electronics become increasingly embedded into the products that we use, there has been a proliferation of product features. My prediction is that as the number of product features increases, the percentage of features that actually get used by consumers is decreasing. I'm sure this is hard to quantify. My question: Are there any articles out there that talk about the percentage of features in a product that are actually used? I am particularly interested in the features in motor vehicles, but may be able to extrapolate from other products.
In my initial search, I've found these articles:
- Thompson, D. V., Hamilton, R. W., & Rust, R. T. (2005). Feature fatigue: When product capabilities become too much of a good thing. Journal of marketing research, 42(4), 431-442.
- Rust, R. T., Thompson, D. V., & Hamilton, R. W. (2006). Defeating feature fatigue. Harvard business review, 84(2), 37-47.
Can you suggest others? Bonus points if it's directly relevant to the automotive industry.
Thanks for your consideration.
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Keith S. Karn PhD
Principal Consultant
Human Factors in Context LLC
Philadelphia, PA
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