Consumer technology has an even more serious obsolescence problem: It evolves so quickly that new releases are more feature-rich and higher quality than older ones, so many consumers discard perfectly good devices to get the latest bells and whistles—and the best available experience.

Some tech makers try to avoid this wastefulness by future-proofing their products. Headphone maker Skullcandy, for instance, designs its wireless headphones with SkullIQ technology that includes extra hardware and functionality that can be turned on remotely with future software updates. As a result, customers get the latest capabilities without having to discard and replace their old equipment.

“We want to make our devices last longer, not just physically, but we want them to be relevant longer, too,” says Nelson Fortiér, Skullcandy’s senior director of brand and product marketing. “We’ve had to retool how we think and to re-engineer our customer experience for sustainability.”

Addressing the competing priorities of sustainability and great customer experience is not easy, but those that do are more likely to develop fruitful long-term relationships with their customers.

“When designing products and services,” says Picoult, “take into account the interests of not just today’s customers, but also tomorrow’s, and even the next generation’s customers.”