How do you balance innovation with customer loyalty?

Innovation is seldom created out of whole-cloth by one party...sometimes a supplier truly innovates, other times the innovation is spurred by a customer request, and innovation that occurs jointly between supplier and customer can be very powerful. The customer is vested in the outcome because their insight drove the innovation, and this creates a strong customer-supplier bond.

-As per Kano’s model,customer requirements can be classified in three categories “must haves”,“performance”&“delighters”. Focusing on requirements which customers are unaware create delight and are break-through.Like what's app over messaging -Launching the product extension or innovating feature addition at the peak of demand in the maturity phase of product life cycle which consists of 4 phases of introduction,growth,maturity and decline.Like launch of updating versions of iphones -Delivering consistently best in quality products. In past its evident that brands are created only and only by delivering products with best quality -Change with technology.When it’s time to cannibalize the product,create strategy and do it or else others will

I always say that product organizations should be fascinated with solutions and not with technology. What the customer needs is a solution and not tech. One cannot create a solution because they are fascinated with a technology. Users pay money for solutions that are simpler and use common sense. The customer need is problem solving and not tech. If solving a problem needs a specific tech, go ahead! Else try to be as minimalistic as possible! Common sense is uncommon but generates lot of revenue! Innovation can sprout with common sense solutions and need not always be space tech or rocket science!

We created a Win Win Development Program (WWDP) for our products. In this model, we sign up a certain percentage of our customers and offer various incentives to them in exchange for the following: - They let us see in-depth user behavior and interactions with our product - They become part of the roadmap team - They do the beta testing of new releases This immensely helped us to understand our customers. The key here is to keep adding customers in the WWDP model to keep the variety of views coming. This is much more useful than surveys! -

Balancing innovation with customer loyalty is a delicate art. While innovation drives growth and relevance, it must be grounded in a deep understanding of customer needs. Continuously engage and listen to the customers, ensuring that new developments enhance their experience. This synergy cultivates lasting loyalty while propelling the business forward.

In my recent experience, a pivotal step in harmonizing innovation with customer loyalty lies in effectively communicating your vision. Articulating your product's direction and strategy is essential. Using varied channels like newsletters, blogs, social media, or even webinars can be immensely effective in keeping your customer base informed about your intentions and progress. More than just informing, involving customers in the development process—be it through prototype testing, feedback sessions, or feature voting—adds a layer of trust and transparency. This participatory approach not only fosters deeper engagement but also serves as a valuable tool to validate and refine your strategic assumptions and ideas.

I'd written about this in my earlier blogs! C suite executives must convey clearly their vision and articulate it to the team! This brings in a lot of confidence and transparency across the org! Product development betters with trust, transparency, diversity, equality and oneness! As said earlier, innovation is not rocket science, it's common sense!

Yes we must communicate the vision to customers, but communicating to employees also is essential! Both the customer facing employees, as well as the "back office". Why are we doing this, how did we learn about this, who did we talk to, what motivated this change? It's a huge opportunity for buy in from your very best ambassadors, speaking directly to your customers.

Having a continuous running beta program is a great way to ensure your new releases are high quality. There's nothing worse than releasing new updates to find major bugs in features that used to work fine. Having a gut check with a group of beta testers before you press go is a great way to maintain quality.

Customers loyalty will leap bound when their voice is heard! Creating a cohort of beta users (from the actual customer circle, give them goodies for their efforts!!) will give an edge to the product. The focus should be to break down the product and hence the test must be vigorous! We'd had refrigerators from our R&D team taken for beta testing by the team's spouses & relatives - you get very candid feedback and that helps the last mile delivery! Again, innovation is not always tech! Its' how product solves people miseries and there can be innovative ways in which the products are tested and delivered! It need not always be "innovation in design"

Differentiate by directly responding to a real need in the market. And tell your customers why! "I personally, as the inventor/founder had XX problem and I developed this product to help me and so many others." Or whatever the "Why" is for your product/service-tell your customer! Differentiate by having a story and sharing it.

Consider a pricing strategy that aligns with your product's value proposition. You can position your product as a premium offering with a higher price tag, or emphasize cost-effectiveness to appeal to budget-conscious customers.

Customers are always spoilt by choices and it is not easy to differentiate the products. Therefore, the only thing that is unique is branding. Branding can be a powerful weapon to differentiate with competitor. If we are looking at brand such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton etc, customers are buying not just the product but also the brand.

Risk management is critical in product development and not in innovation! As I reiterate, if you are developing (innovating) a product to showcase an use case of a technology - this is a high risk category! If the innovation is in how to solve a user problem by simplistic ways, it would be a low risk element! Focus on solution rather than state of art tech! Risk and change management will be the easiest to in these cases!

Innovation is always accepted and welcomed by customers if the producers will improve the product ,innovation should be quality driven which should add value to existing product line ,for example in Men's jacket customer don't expect a zipper in inner pocket for wallet or expensive phone but if producer is giving this zipper based on his experience and value he gives to his belongings , customer will definitely welcome the innovation and value addition ,only risk the producer may face is the cost increase which may be welcomed by buyer of customer accept and appreciate the innovation & value addition in the product .

Prepare contingency plans for unexpected issues that may arise during product changes. Having backup plans in place can help you respond quickly to unforeseen challenges and maintain customer loyalty.

This should be a mantra you have in product development. The product is rarely ever "final." We should keep our eyes on the future and use customer feedback to drive that innovation. Users don't always know what they need, but using their input is valuable for making decisions on your product.

Innovating a product to gain new customers can be tough when existing customers are used to the old way of doing things. While some customers value the innovations and additional features, often, it can leave some users with new difficulties. Something I've tried to ensure I have a group of loyal customers that act as advisors to get their take on new iterations of the product they can use during beta testing. This allows me to collect sentiment before I drop a new release on my loyal customers.

Loyalty is a funny word these days, and not always rewarded! To make it work it’s less about your tools and more about your attitude. Listen, question, and listen again. Take care of the relationship(s) from which this loyalty arose. And when you think you’re done with all that, talk to each other a bit more. Talk, don’t communicate. This allows you to understand needs, identify gaps, and gather insights, which in turn spins off into opportunities where mutual benefits suffice. The other advantage of this method is that it stops you falling in love with your next ‘best ever’ idea! Many a loyal innovation relationship has faltered due to lack of listening and blind faith in that ‘best ever’ idea giving a great product but meets no need

Hot take. Sometimes in product development you need to prioritize the business and not users. Shutting down a product, turning off features, dropping support for a segment of your customer base, innovating in a new direction ... these are hard calls. But if your product attempts to innovate in all directions and satisfy all potential customer needs at once, your business will struggle. If you're innovating in your core market, talk with customers and share early versions of your innovations to get their feedback. But some forms of innovation will be at tension with your core customer base and you need to have conviction in the direction of your business to push through it.

To minimize the unavoidable price of innovation, companies must balance pushing technological boundaries with maintaining customer loyalty. Innovation can come with risks, as seen in various industries like Samsung's battery issues, Tesla's autopilot accusations, and iPhones bending. Key strategies include a customer-centric approach, quality assurance, transparency, continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and building a strong brand identity.

We need to constantly innovate on behalf of our customers to deliver true value to customers and hence exhibit customer loyalty.