Does the customer care?

I just had a strange conversation with a client about his website. He was concerned that there would be 'branding confusion' due to the way some links on the home page take you to main section menu pages, while some go deep into specific content.

My take on it was the same that I usually try to adopt when facing marketing challenges: will the customers care?

I suspect not. I help to create websites for a living, but I never think about branding when I am on the sites I visit. I I just want to get to the information I am interested in.

Frankly, we spent too much time talking about this issue. This is why years ago I came up with a simple three-step process to use in situations like this:

1. Ask yourself: do your customers care about it?

2. If customers don't care, stop arguing and get on with something else.

3. If customers do care, make a decision with them in mind.

Sorry if you're sitting there thinking 'well tell me something I don't know'. But maybe a reminder that every organisation on the planet exists to serve customers is useful now and again. The next time you (and me) are in a dilemma about something, let's try thinking about our customers. Maybe that's where the answer lies.