In order to innovate, there are two fronts for marketers to work on. They can look to maximize the value from the current solution or market offering. The other area is to minimize its costs. Either or both create a leap in the benefits that customers are currently enjoying.
This brings us to the question: which should you focus on first? Should only one front be aimed at or should both be dealt simultaneously? How? These questions are answered after researching and understanding customer pain points. These pain points reveal the limitations of existing solutions and how you can improve them. These shortcomings cause the customer to incur extra costs to satisfy wants. These may also reveal problems in using our product.
Understand Customer Pain Points
Customer pain points are problems or difficulties that customers encounter in performing a task with an existing solution. This difficulty could be eased by the use of your product. Also, if there is a difficulty using your product, an improvement in it will make it a more robust solution.
For instance, the current product or service may be too time-consuming. Additionally, the costs involved in it could also be a pain point and a primary reason why customers don’t want to use your products or switch to better solutions. Customers are always seeking ways in which things can be as simple as possible for them. If your improvement achieves that, then you ensure that you retain them.
A Case Study: Can Openers and Smartphones
Initially, it was time taking to cut open a tin can using a knife or a sharp object. It was also risky. Can openers made that easy. Electronic can openers made it even simpler.
To testify the above, the biggest innovation of this era is the smartphone. Until it arrived, one had to have a different device for different things. For instance, walkman for storing and listening to music. They had to have a camera for taking pictures. A phone to call was needed and a pager to text. Lastly, a computer to browse the internet. A smartphone resolved the problems of handling many devices. It also reduced the extra costs of owning separate devices.
How understanding pain points help to innovate?
Knowing and understanding the pain points helps marketers create more engaging content and user experience. It also helps the team working on creating and delivering the product/services your business has to offer. It brings them insights into rising customer expectations. Any anticipated unsatisfied needs should be known. These give a business an opportunity to come up with a solution and capture customers.
Understanding a pain point and remedying covers both working fronts for innovation. It helps them to identify what value customers demand so that they can maximize those. They also get to know what costs customers want to avoid. The Body Shop simplified its packaging by trimming off unwanted pack elements. Their simple packaging made their products more valuable for the customers and increased their visibility in the marketing, which in turn attracted more customers.
Customer pain points are not only available in one’s own offer. They can also be found in your competitor’s offers. Unsatisfied needs of their customers can be met to gain an edge over them and establish yourself as the go-to choice.
Needs and wants do not remain static and change with time. Constant innovation is a must for staying at the top. The key is to know what can be done to make things better for the customer.
