MISTAKE #3: You didn't take time to listen to your customer
So you’re excited to see your new product succeed because you know it is addressing an unmet need. It is more than just introducing a creative or different product that doesn’t exist today.
It is a product that people want to buy. There is pent-up demand.
Unfortunately, there are lots of products that have addressed unmet needs yet still failed. One of the most common reasons is failure to continue listening to the customer after the opportunity is identified.
Just because a need exists or customers like your idea doesn’t mean they’ll open the wallet or purse and actually buy it. Identifying an unmet need is just step one.
Understanding what is necessary to translate an idea into a product with significant purchase intent is a separate challenge.
A **HYPOTHETICAL** EXAMPLE
Let’s say you are competing in the baby food category. You’re a parent yourself so you know firsthand how un-fun feeding time can be. You’ve shattered more than one glass baby food jar. And you’ve been on the go and thrown away your share of non-resealable plastic tubs that baby refused to eat more than one spoonful from. Or worse, you’ve tried to save the tub only to have it spill pureed carrots all over your diaper bag.
You are living an unmet need. Baby food packaging is not convenient. It can be such a hassle that you debate the impact on a baby's development if you skip a meal...or two.
So you contact a pouch manufacturer to explore the viability of putting baby food in that packaging. You find out the cost of the pouch, combined with other manufacturing and shipping savings actually give you a cost advantage compared to existing packaging.
Eureka! Home run! Right?
Well, I had a client years ago who followed this basic storyline. They saw an unmet need, found a better solution, and added celebrity endorsement, creative flavors, and solid marketing to support their new brand.
They talked to moms and moms-to-be to confirm the unmet need. They put mock-ups in front of potential buyers and observed generally positive reactions. We knew the product had potential.
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. ”
However, the client stopped listening once they heard what they wanted to hear. They brushed past a few ‘noticeable negatives’ that surfaced in the research, which included:
Concerns with how easy and effective a spoon can be used to serve food out of a pouch. And how keeping the spoon clean before and after the feeding could be a challenge.
Concerns about how clean the pouch would actually reseal after the rim and zipper mechanism would most likely cover with food that had been scraped off the bottom of the spoon as part of the feeding process.
THEY SHOULD HAVE LISTENED BETTER
As is often the case, multiple companies notice similar opportunities at similar times. There is actually a lot of interesting academic research on this phenomenon of simultaneous, isolated innovation. And this was no exception.
It turns out several other companies also saw an opportunity to improve the baby food delivery mechanism.
They probably followed a similar discovery and product design process, but they were better listeners.
They listened to what research participants liked about their new idea, but they also listened to what they didn’t like…or how their new idea still had room for improvement.
One of those companies probably heard concerns similar to what my client heard. But that company actually listened, which lead to the true Eureka moment:
Adding a twist-pop valve to the pouch creates a completely self-contained, resealable baby food that could even eliminate the need for a spoon. It worked for astronauts. It should work for juniors.
This really was a better solution to address the unmet need. This was a big idea. The pouch was a good start, but the valve was the critical revision.
And this is why there are far more premium-priced valve-top squeeze tubes in the baby food aisle and few if any, zipper-top pouches.
ARE YOU STILL CONVINCED YOUR PRODUCT IS ALL THAT IT CAN BE?
Take time to listen to your customer. Keep listening to your customer.
Make sure you’ve got an idea that addresses an unmet need. Make sure there is underlying demand. But then stop looking for feel-good sound bites or data points. Look for ways to improve the idea.
Ask potential buyers how your idea is less than perfect.
Ask them what, if any, reasons they might still not buy your product.
Ask them what else they wish your product could do.
Need help getting started? Need a neutral third party to do the listening? That’s what we do.
Don’t think your product has any more room for improvement? I sincerely hope you are right and would love you to send me a sample. Regardless of the category, I’ve been searching for the perfect product for a long time and would love to finally have one.