Control, Confidence and Efficiency: The Triangle of Feature Perfection

Creating products consumers love is both an art and a science. It’s part chemistry and process, part intuition and empathy. When those come together, the result can be extraordinary.

Every company is chasing the same goal: uncover unmet or unarticulated consumer needs and deliver products that meet them. The best companies don’t just stumble onto this once—they build the capability to do it repeatedly, which is what separates a one-hit wonder from a true innovation machine.

But here’s the catch. Understanding consumer needs is only the starting line. The real test is turning those needs into something people can clearly see and feel—a consumer-perceivable benefit. Because no matter how advanced the technology or clever the design, if consumers can’t recognize the benefit themselves, the product won’t win.

What exactly is a consumer perceivable benefit—and why does it matter so much in building successful products?

At first glance, the answer feels obvious. But let’s slow down and get precise, because clarity here can make or break your product development efforts.

A consumer perceivable benefit is simply this: it’s the part of your product that a customer can actually experience and name as valuable. Not something hidden deep in the engineering, not a spec sheet bullet point that only insiders care about—but a benefit they can see, feel, and talk about to someone else.

Think of it as the bridge between what you built and how they explain it at a dinner party. If your user can say, “This saves me time,” or “It’s so much easier than what I used before,” then you’ve nailed it. If they can’t articulate the value, chances are the benefit isn’t truly perceivable—and if it isn’t perceivable, it won’t matter how brilliant the design is.

Why did I become a disciple of the consumer perceivable benefit and how did I learn about it?

Stage 1: Learn to let it flow, open your mind, and find balance

My first boss at Clorox was a brilliant innovator, the kind of person who set the foundation for my entire career in product development. I still remember my first week. There I was, a brand-new Ph.D. chemist… who knew absolutely nothing about cleaning products. I was lost.

So I asked her how I should even begin. She walked me into the lab, looked around, and said something along the lines of: “You’ll figure it out. Take your time. Here are a few ideas to get you started, but don’t overthink it. Talk to people. Try things. There are no wrong answers. We prototype products. Make it up.”

That moment shaped me. What she was really saying was that developing products isn’t about chasing the “right” answer in some textbook—it’s about trusting yourself, experimenting, and merging your ideas with what you observe. Product development is always a balancing act: your belief in the idea on one side, and consumer reality on the other. Which brings me to the next lesson.

Stage 2: Understand the consumer variable

One of the greatest gifts of starting out in consumer goods was that my work went directly into the hands of real people. My job was literally to take bottles of chemicals, mix up formulas, and make sure what I created offered benefits people actually wanted.

But here’s the challenge: the distance between a lab bench and someone mopping their kitchen floor is huge. And the “consumer variable” makes that bridge even trickier—because no two consumers are alike. They have different definitions of “clean,” different standards for what smells good, and different habits in how they use the product.

Here’s an example. I once worked on a prototype for a germ-killing floor cleaner. Sounds simple, right? Just mix cleaning agents, add bleach, throw in some fragrance, and call it a day. But here were the actual constraints:

• The formula couldn’t require rinsing.

• It had to dry in under a minute.

• It had to work for 100 uses without rinsing the floor.

• The germ-killing action had only 30 seconds to do its job.

• And the ingredients that kill germs fast usually left a sticky residue.

  
  

Suddenly, that “simple” floor cleaner was a wicked problem. And the only way to solve it was to think like a consumer while formulating. Which bottles do I pull off the shelf to hit all those needs? And once I create it, how do I design a test that actually mimics real-world use so the lab results mean something?

That’s when it clicked for me: product developers are bridge builders. You’re constantly spanning the gap between consumer needs and product function, and you have to be relentless about it.

Stage 3: The consumer perceivable benefit moment

Here’s the hard truth: you can make a product that works beautifully in the lab, impresses your colleagues, and even makes you proud as a developer. But if the consumer can’t see the benefit clearly, it doesn’t matter.

And perceivable doesn’t always mean cutting-edge technology. Sometimes it’s as simple as fragrance. In the world of cleaning products, scent alone can be the benefit that consumers connect to—even if the science behind the formula is far more advanced.

I learned this lesson the painful way. I once worked on a project to make dirt stick less to sinks. The technology was new. It worked brilliantly. Sinks stayed cleaner for weeks longer. But when we tested it with consumers, the reaction was lukewarm. They didn’t clearly perceive the difference.

I was frustrated. In the lab, the results were obvious. Why couldn’t people see it? That’s when my boss reminded me: “The science might be superior, but unless the consumer perceives the benefit, you will fail. Never forget that.”

She was right. And I never forgot it.

Now lets talk about software products

My lessons in consumer products serve me every day. My foundation in understanding how to build a bridge between lab and reality, understand the concept of the consumer variable and ultimately the need to develop consumer perceivable benefits was only the foundation. I discussed these learnings because they were universal learnings that are the framework of a product developers mind; how to always make the consumer the most important thing.

Software is different. Beneath the concept of a software products and its consumer perceivable benefits are things far more sinister; features, workflows, use cases and usability.

When it comes to software, users can be extremely fickle. Developing a software solution has so many nuances, processes, modules and workflow getting every user happy is next to impossible. Oftentimes, people create software that people love the idea of, but when they get into using it they can be left with a bad taste in their mouth. Unfortunately, it is the nature of B2B software.

Over time, my CPG learnings helped but required a different mindset and a different way to think about it. As I entered a world where coming up with a product that had benefits people wanted, I learned that a great idea isn't great if the way the features presented themselves were too hard.

The emotions of software are more nuanced. Each task, action and button click needs to quickly work together into an experience that not only keep the user calm but also save them time, money or does something they can't normally do. BUT this needs to be true across the entire experience one click at a time.

Where control, confidence, and efficiency were born

Some ideas are so obvious they almost hide in plain sight. Take Google. When it arrived, it completely reshaped how we found information. Think like a consumer for a moment: before Google, if you had a question you didn’t know the answer to, your options were limited. You could guess, ask a friend, or spend hours digging through books.

Then Google showed up. Suddenly, you typed a few words into a box, hit return, and within seconds you had the entire world distilled into a list of links. It was seamless, almost magical.

Before Google: finding answers was slow, uncertain, and effort-intensive.

After Google: finding answers became fast, efficient, and oddly empowering.

Why? Because it gave us three things:

• Control — you asked your own question in your own words.

• Efficiency — results appeared instantly, ready to sift through.

• Confidence — clicking through links let you verify and trust what you learned.

  
  

Google gave us control, confidence, and efficiency—the trifecta of consumer perceivable benefits in information search. And for years, we were happy just “Googling it.”

So here’s a simple test: when you think about your product or feature, ask yourself—does it deliver one, two, or all three of these principles? Hitting two out of three might be enough, but the real magic is when you can hit all three.

Enter ChatGPT

Fast forward to the last couple of years. Google leaned harder into advertising, and the experience shifted. Search results became cluttered with paid links. Control dropped (you had to wade through noise you didn’t ask for). Confidence eroded (you knew ads were shaping what you saw). And efficiency suffered (it took longer to find what you really needed).

Then along came ChatGPT. At first, it felt like the next leap forward. You typed in a question (control), hit return, and got back a clean, synthesized narrative (efficiency). The presentation was smooth, easy to read, and gave you confidence—at least initially—that you’d found your answer.

But over time, cracks appeared. Large language models are predictive engines, not oracles. And sometimes, they’re just wrong. Ask about a sports stat you already know, and you’ll catch the errors immediately. The dreaded “hallucinations” chipped away at our trust.

So where does that leave us? ChatGPT nails control and efficiency, but confidence—the most important piece of the trifecta—wavers. Which means, just like Google today, it’s powerful but imperfect.

So what’s the point of becoming a control, confidence, and efficiency feature maniac?

At the end of the day, it comes down to this: what you believe about your product doesn’t matter nearly as much as what the consumer perceives. Too often, founders, developers, and marketers convince themselves they know better than the user. That’s a dangerous trap.

The job isn’t to prove your brilliance in the lab or dazzle your colleagues with clever features.

The job is to obsess over three things:

1. Understanding the consumer variable. People aren’t uniform. They bring different needs, habits, standards, and expectations to your product. Your job is to build that bridge between what’s possible in development and what’s real in the consumer’s world.

   
   

2. Committing to consumer perceivable benefits. If consumers can’t see, feel, and articulate the value, it doesn’t exist. Technology, no matter how advanced, is irrelevant without a clear benefit that people recognize in their daily lives.

   
   

3. Using control, confidence, and efficiency as a constant hurdle. Every feature, every workflow, every click should be tested against these three principles. Does it give users control? Does it deliver efficiently? Does it inspire confidence? Two out of three may carry you for a while, but the trifecta is where enduring products live.

   
   

Here’s why this matters: when products fall short, it’s usually not because the technology doesn’t work. It’s because the consumer feels one of these three things is missing. If they don’t feel in control, they’ll walk away. If the experience wastes time, they’ll lose patience. And if they don’t trust what your product is delivering, confidence evaporates—and so does loyalty. These are the non-negotiables, and the companies that ignore them eventually pay the price.

The beauty of this framework is its simplicity. You don’t need an endless stack of KPIs or a 200-slide strategy deck. You need discipline. Every time you design a feature or debate a workflow, ask: does this give control, confidence, and efficiency to the user? If the answer is no, you’re making your product harder to love. But if the answer is yes—if you consistently hit the trifecta—you’re stacking the deck in your favor. Consumers don’t just notice those things; they reward them, often with fierce loyalty.

This isn’t theory—it’s the practical mindset shift that separates good products from great ones. Ignore it, and you’ll fall into the trap of believing you know better than your consumer. Embrace it, and you’ll put yourself on the path to building products people not only use—but love, advocate for, and keep coming back to.