Apple just solved the worst thing about the iPhone 13 reservation

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Are you planning to pre-order an iPhone 13 tomorrow morning? If you’ve ever done this in the past, you know that in order not to have to wait weeks for your new iPhone, you need to place your order as close to 8:00 EDT as possible. That’s when pre-orders begin, and it doesn’t take long for shipping to extend well beyond launch day if you don’t move quickly.

That process is kind of a nightmare, to be honest. First, pre-orders are almost never really active at the exact moment you expect, which leads to repeated webpage updates until the store is available. So, you have to quickly choose all the options and click various screens to get the device you want.

Now, however, Apple is fixing one of the worst things about pre-ordering the iPhone. It is truly brilliant. Right now, you can visit the iPhone 13 page on Apple.com and choose to “prepare for pre-order”.

Think of it as a kind of “pre” pre-order. You can select the iPhone you want to buy, decide if you want to trade in your old device, choose how you want to pay and save the cart for Friday morning. If you are using Apple Card, it will check that you have enough credit available and set up your monthly payments.

You will still have to return on Friday morning and the delivery availability is still “first come, first served”. However, the process will certainly be faster and less stressful if all you have to do is click a button to finalize the order.

Look, I know that to most people, this all sounds pretty ridiculous, but that’s what it takes to get an iPhone to your home on launch day. If this is important to you, the hassle was just something you had to live with in the past.

But no one should face it, and it’s a good thing Apple is finally fixing the problem. This is especially true considering that Apple has always been proud of the experience it offers its customers. Whenever that experience is different from the promise you make, there is a disconnect. Pre-ordering products, only to get to the end of the process and find that you’ll have to wait a month for delivery, is a frustrating experience.

Here’s why I point it out: it’s as good an example as one of the most important rules for any business: making it easy for your customers to give you money. It might seem obvious, but honestly, most companies do a lot of things that make things difficult, at least, harder than they should be.

It’s not just frustrating for pre-order processes either. Whenever a customer walks into your store and can’t find what they’re looking for, either because the layout is confusing or because there is no one to help them, you are making it difficult. Whenever a customer waits on hold or doesn’t get a response to the email they sent, you’re making it difficult.

There are probably a thousand ways each company makes it harder than necessary to do business with them. Understanding those pain points and eliminating them – at least, as much as possible – tell your customers that you appreciate them. It also has the advantage that when you make it easier for people to give you money, they are more likely to do so. In the case of Apple, I have no doubt that this is true.

The views expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not Inc.com’s.

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