The single key important feature of any successful product is that it solves the right problems. It should not be a matter merely of treating symptoms: your product must solve the core problems.
Identify and solve your customers’ pain points
Keep in mind that you are not usually your own end-user. End-users may think differently from you. Therefore, you need to:
- Try to identify real-life problems your target customers face
- Conduct questionnaires
- Gather user feedback from your sales and customer service teams
- Talk to your colleagues so as to obtain valuable information from customer complaints
- Focus on what you can achieve
Especially start-ups often face budget constraints. So it is advisable to focus on narrow product specifics: these may satisfy only a rather small group of customers but they satisfy them superbly. If you have limited resources, don’t try to cover a huge audience and please them all: that way you could easily run into financial disaster. This warning comes from the business2community.com website.
Focus your attention on a narrower segment. Dive deep and develop a product with just a few features; of course, it still needs to be able to solve the given problem.
Keep track of customers’ needs
In order to stay competitive and relevant to customers, you need continuously to research and examine their needs. Remember: a successful product is one that is being constantly developed and adjusted in timely fashion. You also need to ensure your value proposition, customers and distribution channels are all aligned. These three elements must be balanced; otherwise, you will not succeed in the long term.
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