In order to get your first 100 customers, you first need to establish what your business stands for, then do the work to thoroughly understand and connect to your potential customers. This week, we will deep dive into the third step on the first 100 customers journey which is to nail your product(s) by focusing on quality.
This is a step that is often overlooked or skipped in sales and marketing funnel analyses, but that is a rookie mistake. To effectively sell, market, and differentiate your product, it must be amazing—top of market, robust, high quality, well-positioned, and well-priced.
Why Focus on Product Quality?
The answer is simple: product quality improves customer retention, builds brand trust, and boosts ROI. Customers are far more likely to buy consistently from companies they trust to deliver high-quality products that last, are easy to use, and meet their needs.
What is Product Quality?
Product quality refers to a product’s ability to meet customer demands and standards. It’s a crucial factor in your business's success and profitability, particularly for startups. Creating high-quality products tailored to your target market is paramount.
The six dimensions of product quality are:
Performance and intended function
Ease of use
Product reliability and efficiency
Adherence to product specifications
Durability and lifespan
Customer perception and ability to meet customer needs
Assessing Product Quality
When evaluating your product’s quality, ask these key questions::
Does it solve a problem? In Part II of the First 100 Customers series, we talked about understanding your customers’ needs and pain points. The extent to which your product addresses those pain points directly impacts its perceived quality.
Take Longchamp’s Le Pliage, for example—an iconic, best-selling product in the fashion world. Customers wanted a luxury, high-quality, yet simple product. Longchamp delivered with a fashionable, foldable nylon bag that was spacious, easy to use, and durable. Customers’ needs and pain points were met, and the result? Skyrocketing sales and global acclaim.
2. Is it straightforward and easy to use?
Regardless of the product, it should not be complicated to figure out. Apple sets the gold standard for sleek, minimalist, and intuitive product design. Customers know they won’t need hours to assemble or learn how to use an Apple product—everything, from packaging to functionality, is user-friendly and intuitive.
3. Is the design attractive?
Your product’s colors, dimensions, fonts, and design elements must align with your brand and appeal to your audience. Whether it’s Google’s vibrant and inviting colors or Apple’s clean, white-based aesthetic, design plays a key role in product perception. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, your product should be visually appealing and consistent with your brand positioning.
4. Is it efficient?
Efficiency can take many forms—energy, time, technical, or even social welfare efficiency. The more effectively a product gets the job done, the more appealing it will be to customers.
Take Dyson as an example. Dyson's products are innovative, technologically advanced, and efficient. Their cordless, bagless vacuum cleaners save customers time and effort while delivering exceptional performance.
5. Does it speak to its target audience?
Your product must resonate with its target audience, offering both value and alignment with their lifestyle and values. Manduka, for instance, created yoga mats rooted in principles of sustainability, catering to environmentally conscious yogis. By addressing this niche market with a high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, responsibly sourced product, Manduka captured significant market share.
How to Ensure Top Product Quality
Cater your product to their needs by regularly gathering feedback from customers and potential users. Use their input to refine, tweak, and expand your offerings.
2. Build a robust product strategy
Your product strategy is a roadmap from creation to launch and beyond. It should address:
The market gap your product fills
The value it provides to customers
Competitive differentiation
Business goals and future vision
Keep your strategy dynamic—get feedback from team members, trusted advisors, and customers. You can use platforms like Asana or Productboard to build a product strategy or choose a template from many available on the web.
3. Double down on brand design
Invest in the aesthetics, ease of use, and durability of your product. Whether you’re a one-person operation or a multinational corporation, design choices matter. Adopt principles like Apple’s focus on simplicity and intuitiveness to elevate your product’s appeal.
4. Implement a quality management system (QMS)
A QMS ensures quality, consistency, and reliability in delivering your product. Popular frameworks include ISO 9001, AS9100, Six Sigma, and CMMI. Choose the one that fits your industry and values, and train your team to adhere to it.
5. Foster a culture of innovation
Build a culture where experimentation and creativity thrive. Partner with and hire talent who love challenge and embrace chance, and incentivize them to constantly innovate. It might be useful (especially as the workforce grows) to have innovation-inspiring rituals and traditions built in to the company culture e.g. innovation hour, competitions, hackathons, etc. You might also make sure of well-known processes to foster a culture of innovation, such as whiteboarding, design thinking process, agile framework, scrum methodology, etc.
6. Test your products thoroughly
Testing is non-negotiable. While the “launch and iterate” approach is popular in tech, find a balance between speed and quality. Launching Alpha and Beta versions of a product while you are iterating and learning to make it more masses-ready is a commonly-used approach. What is essential is that you have a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before launch, a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by and to provide sufficient customer value to early adopters who can then provide feedback that will enable you to build a better product that will resonate with your wider audience. Don't launch your alpha / beta prematurely! It's crucial also that you collect the feedback, learn quick, and iterate fast - then repeat.
What’s Next?
Congratulations—you’ve nailed your product! Next week, we’ll dive into the next step: spreading the word with marketing and promotion. Stay tuned!
Hi! I'm Merve. 👋 I help leaders build high performing teams, amplify their business impact, and advance their careers.
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