How Come I Can't Say My Product Is For Everybody When I Think It Is?
It’s not uncommon for a business to believe that their product or service is easy to use, versatile and able to accommodate most people. However, the company often ends up finding that some groups are in fact less likely than others to adopt their product. Many of them never even find out they have a problem until somebody says something. This blog post has advice on how you can avoid this problem and retain your customers as well as make more money as a result.
A lot of companies make the mistake of thinking they can say their product will be perfect for everybody because it caters to so many different types of people on paper — but very few products can be made perfect for every person in reality.
This thought process leads to a situation where some customers are actually expecting your product to do something for them that it simply cannot do. The real problem is that such expectations of a "perfect product" are often never mentioned, so it’s obvious at best when someone's claims don’t match reality.
What we hear from our customers is that they have trouble saying what isn't going to work due to the nature of their business and the way they talk with their customers. So we will explain what types of people your product may be able to help, without you even realizing this.
You get what you put into it. Our first piece of advice is to never stop reading your feedback or asking for honest and unbiased input from customers. It’s absolutely crucial that you follow up on any negative sentiment people have expressed about your product and try to determine why it was negative. And then figure out exactly what causes the problem so you can prevent it – or improve the product in some way – in the future.
People who are particularly sensitive to a certain price point or a very niche feature may not be interested in your product at all. But the vast majority of people who are having a problem with your product are likely to use many other products that do similar things. So this may be a good starting point for you as you try to figure out what’s going wrong. And in some cases, simply advertising your product as something for a specific type of person can solve the problem.
Many people who have trouble with your product will have problems with other products, especially if they work in an industry that applies to yours – which is almost everybody . So I recommend talking with them and asking how they interact with these other products and how they would improve them if they could. And you can use the answers to that question to improve your product.
While talking to your customers and asking them what they want out of your product, you may find that they have certain expectations that are different from the ones you and your team think their problem is. In an ideal situation, people will tell you directly what's not working so you can make changes as needed. But more often than not, these types of conversations don’t happen and people expect a specific result from your product without telling you about it in return.
If someone openly says that your product is too expensive or not performing a specific function for them, those statements have validity no matter how negative they seem. And if you feel that the price is too high or that it doesn’t do what they need, it’s worth listening to them even if you think it sounds silly. In this situation, the truth will come out about what your customers are expecting to get in return for their money and how your product is not providing that.
These types of conversations can be tricky and can lead to conflict with other teams within your business – as well as with your customers. But I recommend sticking with these conversations and working towards a resolution rather than ignoring them. This will not only help you get your product to match the expectations of your customers, it will also reveal what would make your product more valuable to them and how you can change it.
People who don't use your product will tell you that they are too intimidated by the software or service to buy it. While often this is an obvious problem, sometimes they’re just using words to explain why they need a solution that works better for them – and if you’re able to understand their language, you may be able to work with them. In this way, you may be able to get them interested in your product once again.
People who want your product but can’t afford it will often tell you that they don’t know how to get their hands on your pricing, how to know more about the value of your service and how they can count on it. This is often a sign that you're trying to offer a completely different solution than what they're looking for, which may be confusing or frustrating. But if you provide them with the information and resources they need, they can hopefully decide that it’s worth giving your product a chance.
While not everyone loves your product, it’s critical to know what the people like about it. Don’t be afraid to ask them why they keep coming back or why they decided to buy in the first place. You may be surprised at what they say and how you can improve your product as a result.
The most difficult part of getting feedback is that people don't always tell you what you want to hear or expect to hear – especially when it’s negative. But if you let people get away with not fully answering your questions, you will be less likely to fix the problems that are keeping them from using your product and making money off of it.
We've covered how to collect feedback and what to do with it, as well as how to get customers on board before and after they're able to start using our product. But we also need to talk about the importance of quality control when handling and collecting user feedback. In some cases, your customers will be bringing you issues that are not related to your product or service at all, so you need to make sure you’re not ignoring these problems.
A quality control team dedicated solely for this purpose can help prevent these type of problems from happening by identifying them early on. They can help users report issues they have while they're using your product or service and can look into these reports after they come in to determine if there is a problem that needs to be addressed. This dedicated team will stay on top of the issues their customers are having and be able to offer them sound advice about how to fix them and improve the overall user experience.
If you rely entirely on your customers for feedback, it’s possible that you will never know what exactly is wrong with your software or service. It’s also possible that people won’t take the time to tell you what’s wrong with it.
Conclusion
As a small startup developing software, it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day development of your product. But collecting feedback from people and working to improve your product based on that feedback is just as important. Whether you plan on making all of your changes for free or for money, you will need to work out the details, but getting feedback from customers can be done in different ways. With so many options, there are no bad ideas when it comes to collecting new user feedback.
What other ways do you collect feedback or what are some things you might want to include in this article? Let me know in the comments below!
Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.