More Symbol Libraries?
Our latest project was to create a new set of symbol libraries. We currently have 11 different set of vector content libraries which in total hold over 6300 individual files. Of course they are also specialized in their own way with a large focus on home planning items but what we wanted to know before we started a new library was what in particular our customers wanted.
Jump straight in:
After a few painstaking hours we came up with a quick questionnaire that we would send to our mailing list. Obviously when doing this sort of thing you have a lot of responses saying ‘stop emailing me!’ and ‘I have no use for this!’ but we were looking for the customers that needed more vector content and siphoned through the replies with a fine toothed comb. What we found was fantastic.
What we have learnt:
A few of our symbol libraries are 5 years old and the majority of customers wanted this updating, they wanted libraries along a similar theme but packed with more content, a better naming convention and an easier way to search for particular items. An example for naming conventions that was interesting was that items in home plan graphics that we, as a british company, named ‘Taps’ wasn't easily found by a few American customers as they naturally refer to the items as ‘Faucets’. This is something we new straight away needed to be addressed. Overall the biggest call was for an up to date electrical library, I personally don’t have a huge experience with electrical components in terms of drafting and plan drawing so I was hoping to get email upon email of lists of electrical components and thankfully I did. On top of the electrical items we had a huge amount of feedback for new libraries and other additional features.
Do we need more Library content?:
What started out as a request for a bit of a nudge in the right direction turned into a large chunk of our existing customers telling us exactly what they wanted, but more importantly what they were willing to pay for which, as a business, was perfect. Never underestimate the importance of customer feedback, why take a punt on something random when your customers are asking for something different? They are the people using your products everyday, plus every now and then they will come back to you with brand new ideas and creations that, like us, you may look into in the very near future (yes that was a teaser). 2015 is going to be a big year for Microspot.