{"id":50369,"date":"2021-06-24T13:41:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=50369"},"modified":"2021-06-24T21:15:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T01:15:38","slug":"how-customer-feedback-powers-product-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/how-customer-feedback-powers-product-development\/","title":{"rendered":"How Customer-Led Product Improvement Can Supercharge Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s common for business owners to feel like they need to have all the answers. They alone bear the responsibility for innovation, ideation, and uncovering the next key developments of their product and service.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>And of course, the most successful companies do nothing of the sort. They hire brilliant thinkers within the company to come up with these ideas and collaborate. But that\u2019s where many companies draw the line. They forget the other cohort of invaluable thinkers who can raise their products to new heights: the customer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-50372\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer1-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Actually asking customers what they want to see, what bothers them, what their expectations are \u2014 this can be transformative for businesses. We\u2019ve identified four key benefits of customer-led product improvement:<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>You build products that are more likely to sell<\/li>\n<li>User experience and product issues are easily uncovered<\/li>\n<li>New product launches are more likely to succeed<\/li>\n<li>Customers are more engaged with your products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Build more sellable products<\/h2>\n<p>As the saying almost goes, \u201cIf you build it, they will come &#8230; unless you\u2019ve made something nobody actually wants.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>The end goal of every product improvement campaign, redesign, or new product launch is putting more cash in the bank. Directly consulting customers allows you to see what they\u2019re looking to spend money on; it directly highlights the features, benefits, and pains which define their relationship with your products or industry. It allows you to sell more to them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>LEGO understood this principle and its Ideas contest is testament to that. It calls for fans to submit their own designs for lego sets. Not only does this provide massive brand engagement with customers, the submissions also reflect mass popular opinion at the time, giving LEGO a roadmap for products that are likely to sell right now \u2014 eliminating the guesswork.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>(If you\u2019re not convinced, let us share that <a href=\"https:\/\/chaordix.com\/resources\/lego-ideas-story-co-creation-and-innovation-playbook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LEGO has received more than 30,000 submissions<\/a> to date and amassed 1.5 million members on the site. Over 30 &#8220;co-created kits&#8221; have been released so far, to massive public delight.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2>Address problems you didn\u2019t know about<\/h2>\n<p>It cannot be overstated how often customers will suffer through bugs and issues without ever telling you. Sometimes they keep using the product (and privately struggle with it) and sometimes they just leave and go to a competitor \u2014 in both cases, you have no idea there\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Inviting customers to provide feedback in a safe place, possibly with an attractive incentive, can help you make dramatic product improvements. These won\u2019t always be flashy. Often it\u2019s little things which, once fixed, make the process of using and enjoying your product a little bit sweeter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>While it can be hard to prioritize these changes that seem minor and have no clear dollar-value return, they are essential for demonstrating your commitment to improving CX and building a better product.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2>Minimize \u201cmisfires\u201d on new product ideas<\/h2>\n<p>How often today do we see companies launching a new product or feature and getting absolutely slammed for it by their own customers? Like when Microsoft tried to remove the Start menu and turn our laptops into funky tablets. Negative customer reaction made this change untenable, but it could have been completely averted if customer feedback were solicited in the first place.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Now of course there\u2019s a balance: Microsoft won\u2019t release its proprietary design concepts to the world just so people on the internet can argue about it. But with a dedicated online community of keen users, they could assess concepts critically and get a feel for customer reaction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Conferring with customers doesn\u2019t guarantee you\u2019ll never have a product flop. But it does move the odds further in your favor. In business today, anything that moves the needle should be seized with both hands!<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2>Create a more engaged customer base<\/h2>\n<p>For any brand, cultivating more engaged users or customers is like Popeye downing a can of spinach. It\u2019s a superfuel that will lead to more sales and higher revenue in the future, and making a point of consulting and listening to users will help achieve this.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>The fact we\u2019ve consigned this as a secondary or tertiary benefit showcases just how powerful customer feedback is.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>While it\u2019s easy to say, \u201cLet customer feedback lead your product development process,\u201d this can also be naive. You still have a business to run, possibly with executives and investors and you need to make savvy decisions affecting a whole lot of people. Include your customers and their vital feedback wherever possible, but the final decision is always firmly in your hands.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2>How to collect customer feedback<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/voice-of-customer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Voice of the customer (VoC)<\/a> is the industry term for the process of engaging customers to get their opinions, expectations, and aversions to your products and services. There are many ways to cultivate this data and make it work for your brand:<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Product feedback surveys<\/strong> \u2014 Ask customers open-ended questions about their experience with your product. How did it meet expectations? Where did it fall down? What do they wish it could do? Use this data to inform future designs or updates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review mining<\/strong> \u2014 Look at what customers are saying without any prompting from you. Sift the data for patterns and consistencies: what seems to consistently delight or frustrate customers? Is there anything we can fix or improve?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Competitor analysis<\/strong> \u2014 Don\u2019t just focus on your existing customers. Look at competitors offering similar products or services: what are their customers raving or frustrated about? What can you learn from their mistakes and successes?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social media mining<\/strong> \u2014 Social media can be powerful for product-specific feedback, but you can also look for trends and opinions in your niche or industry in general. Is there a sentiment that products in your industry are behind the times, or that no one seems to offer THIS functionality people really want?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Workshops and usability testing<\/strong> \u2014 If you\u2019ve got a beta product and want hands-on testing from your customer demographic, invite them in and make it happen. While this can be expensive, it provides crucial information you can use to make adjustments prior to launch.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Online community<\/strong> \u2014 Some brands run entire online communities committed to their products or industry. If well managed, this ultra-engaged group of users will provide invaluable feedback and ideas your company won\u2019t find anywhere else.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>When to be cautious with customer-led changes<\/h2>\n<p>Steve Jobs famously said, \u201cYou can\u2019t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they\u2019ll want something new.\u201d And he has a point: we aren\u2019t advising companies to build their business from the ground up based entirely around the opinions of customers or prospects.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-50371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/customer2-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>The idea is to leverage this data to uncover facts, opinions, and weaknesses that help you develop what you currently have: incremental improvements, customer engagement, avoiding the pitfalls of overconfidence, and believing you always know best.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Gathering and assessing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/customer-experience-platform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer feedback<\/a> can be a slow process and it requires skill to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, if conducted expertly and applied appropriately, utilizing a direct line from your customers can transform the overall reception of your products and, ultimately, the success of your company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s common for business owners to feel like they need to have all the answers. They alone bear the responsibility for innovation, ideation, and uncovering the next key developments of their product and service. And of course, the most successful companies do nothing of the sort. They hire brilliant thinkers within the company to come up with these ideas and collaborate. But that\u2019s where many companies draw the line. They forget the other cohort of invaluable thinkers who can raise their products to new heights: the customer. Actually asking customers what they want to see, what bothers them, what their expectations are \u2014 this can be transformative for businesses. We\u2019ve identified four key benefits of customer-led product improvement: You build products that are more likely to sell User experience and product issues are easily uncovered New product launches are more likely to succeed Customers are more engaged with your products Build more sellable products As the saying almost goes, \u201cIf you build it, they will come &#8230; unless you\u2019ve made something nobody actually wants.\u201d The end goal of every product improvement campaign, redesign, or new product launch is putting more cash in the bank. Directly consulting customers allows you to see what they\u2019re looking to spend money on; it directly highlights the features, benefits, and pains which define their relationship with your products or industry. It allows you to sell more to them. LEGO understood this principle and its Ideas contest is testament to that. It calls for fans to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":49239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,204,194],"tags":[176,105,98,351,436,625,69],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Customer-Led Product Improvement Can Supercharge Your Business - Sogolytics Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Asking customers what bothers them or what their expectations are can be transformative for businesses. 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