How do you balance customer feedback with your own vision and expertise?

Part of the process of identifying your mission, vision, and purpose is identifying your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). If the feedback is coming from your ICP be open to it, even if you think you disagree. You will either be learning about how to modify your product/ service or you will be learning about the objections that your ICP has to your product that you will need to overcome. Both points are important to listen to with an open mind.

The customer is always right - sometimes... Your vision is still important. But it takes leadership skills to guide the customer to see your vision if their natural proclivity is to identify with a different perspective. Teach them. Help them. Guide them. They will follow.

There are hit and run businesses developed to separate people from their money. They sell whatever people want to hear. They have no need for authenticity. The anger and frustration they leave behind falls on deaf ears. Such businesses don’t listen to anybody. Period. But there are truly creative businesspeople who have a vision for solving a problem. Usually this approach includes a long-term plan that relies on understanding why clients would benefit from it. If you are off the mark on why your customers buy, they won’t buy. But if you’re right, they will resonate with your authenticity. Their feedback will be as fans who want to help you tweak the end-to-end customer experience. Volunteer stakeholders are worth your attention.

Meeting customer demands isn't always correct In luxury retail, there exists a delicate balance between cultivating desirability and maintaining exclusivity. This inherently means that not every customer can have what they want. Nevertheless, the integrity of customer service must not be compromised. It's important to distinguish between a poor customer experience and a customer not having their desires fully met. Luxury retail thrives on leaving the customer yearning for more, provided that the customer service remains exceptional.

If the feedback is coming from your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), will it help you achieve Product Market Fit? Or are they trying to shoe-horn you into solving a pain point that is beyond your focus/ strengths? How mature is your company? How does that play into the feedback and how you should act on it?

Keep in mind, as you gather feedback from your customers, it's important to follow up with them and share the impact of their feedback - what you did as a result, and how it will help them. Respect means showing the customer that it was worth the time they took to provide feedback.

Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs are critical to understanding customer insights and trends. VoC programs do not need to be big and complex. Start with what you have and compile it into one place. Think about how you ask for feedback - can it be measured? What is the frequency? Can you understand trends from it?

There are a ton of ways to experiment and test ideas for VoC programs. Microsoft conducts extensive beta testing for products like Windows and Office, inviting users to test pre-release versions, collecting feedback to improve stability and features. Airbnb uses customer surveys, feedback widgets, and panels to refine its platform, enhancing usability, the review system, and host standards based on user input.

This often comes with putting your ego aside at times. Your expertise means something - and it's what got you to where you are. However, in a world riddled with frequent changes (i.e., rise of AI, economic uncertainty, supply and demand shifts, etc.), customer expectations and needs may change as well. Changing and adapting is important to maintain a hold on a market, so put your ego aside and keep your ear to the ground.

2. Educate and inform customers: Sometimes, customers may provide feedback based on misunderstandings or lack of knowledge about your product or service. Take the opportunity to educate and inform them about your expertise and the reasons behind certain design decisions. By explaining the underlying principles, you can help customers understand how their feedback aligns with your vision or why certain suggestions may not be feasible.

Two Things to also consider: 1.Seek diverse perspectives: Encourage feedback from a diverse range of customers, including different demographics, backgrounds, and preferences. This ensures that you consider a variety of viewpoints and avoid biases. For instance, if you're a video game developer and receive feedback primarily from hardcore gamers, actively seek input from casual gamers or players new to the genre. This broader perspective can help you create a more inclusive and appealing experience for a wider audience.

One thing I've found helpful is to have a very clear understanding of your ideal customer profile (ICP). Feedback that you receive from your ICP must be looked at with a magnifying lense but at the same time it does not mean everything has to become part of the product roadmap with immediate deadlines. It's important to communicate with customers about the product journey and also share your vision behind the way things stand today and how your product addresses their feedback in future iterations. There are great examples of how companies have incorporated customer feedback into their products and built a new feature which becomes an industry first and catapults them to the top of the ladder. So, be open and at the same prudent.