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I have a (quite big) software, and some features are custom for each client. I want to highlight the fact that those features are handcrafted for them in the menu, but I don't have any idea on how to do that without breaking the whole experience of the app.

TL;DR : I have a 5 buttons for sorting some data, and 2 of them are custom sort algorithms for the company X. Same case with some dropdowns and submenus. How would you make the visual difference, and moreover, how would you make the customer understand that "this is handcrafted for you" ?

Thanks for any help, Tom

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  • Is the reason for extra labeling more to do w/ keeping good relations with sales and marketing / account management? From a customer perspective, do they think of 'Custom Features'? or are they just features?
    – Mike M
    Jul 31, 2017 at 18:11
  • Right, this is a marketing-ish idea. I guess that the end-user don't really care about knowing if the feature is tailored for him or not, but in a way this can be considered a way to makes him feel "at home", or at least to know that his environement is adapted to his business logic. Thus, this can be handfull to label custom features, because the application have to be really close to the business reallity of the customer, so knowing what can be easily modified may be a plus. That is why I wanted to be able to make it visible, but without too much new stuff everywhere.
    – tmos
    Jul 31, 2017 at 18:28

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You don't need to do anything

If I get an article customized (physical, virtual, software, etc), I don't expect to know which features were customized for me. By adding these customization, I know the whole item has changed and it's unique for me. Adding a notice about differences will make me expect different behaviors or wonder about differences with other clients' setups: Is mine better? Is mine worse? What does other clients (or even worse, my competition) share in common, and what do they have that is better than mine? . In short: they will create friction on something that is not needed at all.

Additionally, the knowledge of something being added up on top of existing software usually sounds as a patch or bug fix. I mean... if you could do it right now, why didn't you start with the right version? Why isn't this software having the features that you tell me are better for me? Is this just a gimmick to charge me more?

As you can see, explaining customization is a double-edged sword, and has more issues than benefits. So just focus on providing a clear interface and proper controls and forget about letting your clients know something is different, even if they know. The last thing you'll want is to have your clients think too much on your product or service.

Finally, if your marketing people tells you they want to do something special, simple white label your software and that's it: you won't worry your users and they'll still see their brand in your software.

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    Great points! Thanks! As junior designer, it's not easy everytime to think about all those points, and moreover, to explain them clearly. Thanks a lot :)
    – tmos
    Jul 31, 2017 at 18:45

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