While a master of marketing can make people crave something they do not need or even particularly want, the truth is that this is always uncertain and expensive. Instead, what you need is a product that they already want. Something that, even if they don’t realize it, solves a particular problem, has a decent perceived money-to-value ratio, and looks cool on top.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you should become a mind reader and fulfill every desire; just try to figure out what they want from a business in your industry and deliver something as close to this experience as possible.
Here are a few tips to help you make your customers’ desired product.
1. What are the most common customer priorities?
The first test you need to conduct to check if your product is the product your customers believe they deserve is to check for quality and the price of the product. These two are the most important factors, and together, they make a cost-to-value ratio.
Now, let’s be abundantly clear – it’s the job of your marketing to explain and persuade your audience that your product is really worth what you’re charging. Why? Well, because it’s really a game of perception.
An average customer is not an engineer or even a veteran user of the product. They have no idea how much it costs to develop and mass-produce the product or how much it costs to keep your servers running. After all, it’s not their job to care about these things. You shouldn’t be in this line of work if you can’t set a fair price and still make a profit.
The cost is a standalone issue as well. Even if a luxury product is worth the money, some people just outright can’t afford it. So, you need to make sure that you understand your brand and choose either budget or luxury route from the start. This will greatly help you manage your pricing strategy.
People also care about things like your brand reputation, customer reviews and ratings, features, functionality, and how easy to use a product is.
We’ve said this twice already, but we’ll do it once more – all of these features are ultimately measured against the cost of the product.
2. Gather and centralize user data
If you already have some customers (a prototype, an early usable product version, or anything else along those lines), you must start taking their feedback seriously. First, you need to set up all the tools that will help you actively listen to your audience, gather this data, and analyze it in order to get insights.
The simplest way to streamline this process is to find a list of the best CRM apps and pick one. This way, you’ll not just gather all this relevant customer data; you’ll also have it centralized and available on demand. Moreover, these CRM platforms can be integrated with other analytical tools and ERPs, which improves your ability to get invaluable insights.
You can also take a more direct approach to this issue. Why not ask them to do a survey where you ask them direct questions about the features and how they rate them (in performance and importance)? You can also leave an open section where they can verbally express what they think about the specific aspects of your product. Just make sure to be direct and exact with your questions (you don’t want them to go too broad in their explanations).
One more thing you should do is engage in social media listening. What they say about your brand when they think you’re not listening is often more insightful than direct survey results. Still, there’s no need to choose between these two methods, and you should use both.
3. Managing customer journey
A customer’s satisfaction with the product is sometimes affected by more than just the quality of the product. At times, they combine the entire experience. The more they have to struggle with your impractical ordering system and clumsy customer service, the more they expect from the product in order to “break even.”
Fortunately, it goes the other way around, as well. By improving the overall experience, you can ensure that they develop a more positive perception of the product, as well.
Customer’s journey starts long before they make a purchase and, hopefully, doesn’t end with this purchase.
Still, the first formal interaction between your brand and your customers comes in the form of their visit to your site. This is why your UI needs to be optimized for top-notch UX. The navigation needs to be simple and intuitive, layout responsive, and loading speed as fast as possible.
Then, you need to allow them to buy without having to register. This is one of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment, and by allowing them to skip this step (but still incentivizing registering), you’ll slightly increase customer satisfaction.
It’s also worth mentioning that by creating a great customer journey, you also get more chances for upselling and cross-selling.
4. Innovation and upgrades
In many industries (like businesses with SaaS models), customers buy products that they expect to be upgraded over time. However, you can’t just randomly tweak features. You need to figure out what your customers want and find a way to deliver that exact thing.
One of the best ways to approach this is to create a roadmap. This way, you’ll give them an insight into what lies ahead. This can noticeably reduce the churn rate because no one wants to drop out a month before their biggest complaint/grievance is resolved. In fact, this can create an incredible FOMO working in your favor.
Developer notes and diaries are there to remind your customers that your team is working even when they can’t see it. This is a great way to help increase people’s investment in your team and humanize people who work on their products. While this is not guaranteed, it’s possible that they’ll value the labor invested in these improvements.
It’s also important to notice new trends in time. As someone within the industry, you should be the one seeing these trends approaching before your customers. Being an early adopter is one of the most profitable things you could ever do.
5. Consider what’s realistic
People just love to complain.
Everything is expensive, nothing is ever good enough, and everyone is an engineer and a critic when it comes to the product’s features.
Not all feedback is productive, and some people love to whine (as a hobby).
If given a chance, everyone would want to buy a Lamborghini for a dollar and an iPhone for a cent, but these things are just not realistic. The problem with these two examples that we’ve listed is that they’re so obviously unrealistic that you have no problem figuring it out. However, what if it’s not that clear? What if the differences are a bit subtler?
For instance, you can’t sell a product that costs you $100 to produce for $100 (you wouldn’t be making a profit); however, some of the expenses (like marketing) vary, so can you remain profitable while selling it for $105?
There’s always an extra feature that would be great to implement; however, how much time will this take, how much will this cost, and will this extra code or addition disrupt something else?
Does it really pay off to make a massive change to convert just a few extra buyers? This is a decision that only an executive can make, but only after they’ve read all the data and reviewed all the insights.
Talk to specialists, sleep on it, and then make a decisive call.
Creating a better product is a result of a thorough research and analysis
Don’t assume you understand what your customers want better than they do. Sometimes, you must ask them directly and then do as they say. However, you shouldn’t always take their word for it, either. Actions speak louder than words, which is why analysis and your own judgment need to be factored into this equation, as well.
