What sets a product apart from its competition?

This morning, as I scrolled through my feed on Instagram, I came across this advertisement of Brooke Bond 3 Roses - Drop, Boil, Sip.

"One tea bud per cup of tea can be boiled in water and milk as is normally done to prepare tea. The blend can then be poured directly into a cup, without having to use a strainer."

I'm really glad they had introduced a solution to eliminate all hassles revolving around the perfect tea-time. Brewing tea is now easier than it seems!

This advancement that they've brought into tea-brewing is indeed trivial but the impact it has on their user's experience ought to be lauded. Had Hindustan Unilever thought about this sooner, they could have easily stood out amongst their competition at a much earlier stage and so could they have won a larger market share already.

But why couldn't they think of this sooner?

I've got a straightforward answer: Lack of focus on their customer's desired outcome - the transformative concept that a lot of companies fail to embrace.

Let's dig into this concept a bit before I could get to the point I'm trying to make here.

"Desired Outcome" has 2 sides to it - one, what your customers want to achieve using your product, and the other, how your customers want to achieve (the what).

The first side explains why you exist; helping your customers accomplish what they want is what gets you in the game. It's about why you exist in their world. Majority of the companies get this right - the market research, product positioning, product differentiation, pricing, and a whole lot of other strategies that companies diligently look into, help.

Brooke Bond 3 Roses exists to help people brew tea. They provide all the trivial ingredients and offer instructions on how to brew tea. All Good!

The second side is about helping your customers accomplish what they want in a way that is appropriate to them, and this is where companies fail to replicate the due diligence. While slapping together some features and functionalities into your product "could" help your customers achieve what they want, the lack of appropriate experience (that your customers seek to achieve what they want, the way they want) hits you hard in delivering value.

The appropriate experience you offer is what sets you apart from the competition, it is why your customers chose you, it is why you exist!

Brooke Bond 3 Roses now helps me brew tea in a way I want - without the need for strainers and cleaning the leftover powder. More than just good; it's perfect!  

Steve Jobs once said, "people don't know what they want until you show it to them". While this may have worked during the initial days of the information revolution, I'm not sure if this would continue to work today.

It's merely possible to accurately identify the appropriate experience that your customers would want. So, how do we go about this?

Give your customers the voice they deserve. Speak to them. Imagine, build and polish your products hand-in-hand with your customers. While a lot of companies do speak to a select group of people when their product is at a nascent stage, they fail to continue the successful trend that helped them build their product in the first place.

Some wise man once said, "The day a man believes he knows everything is the day he stops growing". I believe this implies to products as well.

Engage with your customers. Let your product's roadmap be a combination of your view of what the future needs will be, along with the many feature requests/improvements that you have gathered from your customers.

As a result of focusing on your customer's desired outcome, you get to shape your product such that it fits right into your customers need. And along with it comes improved retention, brand loyalty, and more money!

Customer's Desired Outcome is the key to a product's success. Start with collecting feature requests from customers; then see if they align with your product's vision; measure the impact the new feature would bring to your product; prioritize the requests that you collect; add them to your road map; let your customers know how their efforts to contribute to your cause has been translated. Don't stop. Go ahead and have your customers (that requested the feature in the first place) provide hands-on feedback about the feature before it is officially launched.

Yes, this involves a lot of work. Looks like it's easier said than done.

Well, I beg to differ - the advent of DFMS (dynamic feedback management systems) help you seamlessly focus on your customer's desired outcomes. These tools help you collect, measure, prioritize and manage features effortlessly while keeping your customers engaged throughout the process - it's now easier than it seems!

If you're on the lookout for a tool that can help you with focusing on your customer's desired outcome, I'd recommend hellonext.co. Trust me, they are faster, better and cheaper.