The builder’s “stupid, substandard” mixer in our new flat was obviously bad… so you upgraded to a better brand.
But from Day 1, my brain still has to do the mixing.

Every morning, the same scene:
I turn on the shower.
The water is either too cold or suddenly lava.

So I do this little ritual:
Cold knob at a specific angle. Hot knob at a much bigger angle.
Then micro-adjust… pause… adjust again… pause again…
What makes it funnier:
the “correct angles” are different in both bathrooms.
So now it’s not muscle memory. It’s two separate “operating manuals.”

And when guests come?
I find myself giving instructions like I’m onboarding them to new software:
“No no… don’t turn it fully. Keep this one here. Now slowly increase that one. Wait 5 seconds. Now adjust.”
It’s such a small thing. But it’s every day.
Which means we didn’t buy a mixer.
We bought a permanent daily effort.

Sometimes, products lose because they create tiny recurring friction.

And here’s the painful part for us marketers: A customer may never complain.
They’ll just quietly label you as “pain for life”.
So the real positioning isn’t:
“premium”
“trusted brand”
“high quality”
It’s:
“Works right on Day 1. Works right for anyone. Without training. Without calibration.”

The best marketing may not be in what you claim.
It’s what the customer stops having to think about.