Ease of Use and Usability Engineering as Marketing Tools

This press release from Red Gate shows how you can use ease of use as a competitive advantage:

Red Gate Poll Reveals Role Of Usability Engineers Critical To Future Of Software Development

A few nice quotes from Red Gate's Press Release:

"The company’s SQL Bundle customers were asked why they would recommend Red Gate products, with an expectation that the majority would choose one of the first three options: time-saving, speed, or accuracy. Instead a conclusive 65% chose the fourth option – ease of use."

"Unfortunately, the marketplace for packaged software solutions is cluttered with vendors trying to sell Swiss Army knives when most buyers are looking for a hammer, but good usability engineers will allow better products to be produced without hindering quality. We will continue to strive for better testing, as we always do, but will be taking on more Usability Engineers to improve user friendliness even further,” added Reed."

"The discipline of usability engineering has been an object of study and learning ever since computer technology emerged as a viable industry. Developers, testers and users are now recognising the increasing importance of usability as a significant driver of developing good software tools and customer satisfaction rates."

Check out their web site for screen shots of their software (in walk-throughs). I see evidence of good UI design:
http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Compare/