How Big Is That Battery Exactly?

Batteries are another one of those issues where the manufacturers do a poor job of educating consumers on the choices they have in the product. Let's take a look at how Dell and HP handle the issue of power on a laptop.

The image above is from HP, the one below is from Dell. See a difference? HP, to their credit, attempts to show people what the larger batteries look like on a laptop - but it's a generic laptop, not specific to the model the user is buying. Notice that there's a 9-cell battery, yet no image of what the 9-cell battery looks like on it - and there's no option to buy a 12-cell battery, so why show the user the image? Why not show an actual photograph for each laptop model with each battery on it? Yes, it would be added work for the online sales team, but they'd reap the benefits of educating their customers on the differences between the batteries. HP does the right thing when it comes to battery life estimates: that's something that an average consumer can understand, even if it's just an estimate. The word "cell" doesn't mean anything to the average consumer, but a battery life in hours and minutes will click with most people.

Dell? Dell just phoned it in on their battery picker - Alpha Geeks know that Whr stands for "Watt Hour", but that term means nothing to an average person. Ditto for the cell number - other than "bigger must be better" - and by not putting an estimated battery life on this part of the selection process, or a photo of how much bulk the bigger battery adds, Dell is reducing the customer to a blind guess in terms of which battery is better for them. I've seen numerous comments on YouTube and in forums from people who get a notebook with a bigger battery, and they're shocked when it shows up and it sticks out the back and adds weight to the laptop. Some of these people return the notebook to Dell, so Dell is losing out here. Why not show the customer what the battery looks like on their laptop? Why not tell them what kind of estimated battery life they'll see?

I wonder what would happen to their online sales if Dell and HP spent a bit more time making the buying process not only about feeds and speeds, but about customer education? More focused on telling people about what they're buying, and why they might want each feature. I think Dell and HP would see reduced returns, increased sales, and customers that are more satisfied with the product they purchased. And that's worth a little extra work, isn't it?

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He dislikes having to look for real-world photos of how big batteries are on laptops when he's trying to order one.

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