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. (To read about the first two steps, click on the last two week's blog posts here and here) This is a step that sometimes gets overlooked or skipped in sales and marketing funnel analyses, and I would argue that that is a rookie mistake. To be able to effectively sell, market, and differentiate your products, you need to make sure they are amazing, top of market, robust, high quality, well-positioned, and well-priced.
Why? The answer is simple. Product quality improves customer retention, builds brand trust, and boosts the business ROI. Customers buy more often and more consistently from companies they know and trust make high quality products that will last, are easy to use, and will meet their demands and needs.
Now, let’s break it down. What is product quality really?
Product quality refers to a product’s capability to meet customer demands and standards. It is crucial in the success and profitability of your business, and therefore, is paramount for businesses - and especially start-ups - to create products of quality, that are right for their target market.
The 6 dimensions of product quality are:
Performance and intended function
Ease of use
Product reliability and efficiency
Adherence to product specifications
Durability and lifespan
Customers' perception of the product; a.k.a. its ability to meet customer needs
You might ask these questions when assessing product quality:
Does it solve a problem? In Part II of the First 100 Customers series, we talked about understanding the customers’ needs and pain points. The extent to which your product solves for your customers’ pain points helps determine its quality. Think of Longchamp’s Le Pliage, one of the most successful products in the fashion world and a cultural icon across the globe. The customers wanted a luxury, high quality, simple product. Longchamp came up with a fashionable, foldable bag made our of nylon, which was spacious and easy to use. Et voila! Pain points and needs addressed, customers happy, sales skyrocket!
Is it straightforward and easy to use? No matter what your product is, it shouldn't be too complicated to figure out. Apple is the golden standard for sleek, minimalistic, and easy to use product design. People keep buying Apple products because they know that they will not need hours assembling and figuring out how to use the products. Even the box and packaging the products come in are easy to open, close, and store. Often times, they don’t even need to read the product leaflets - it’s just intuitive!
Is the design attractive? Colors, dimensions, fonts (if applicable) and other design elements should be complementary and fitting with one another as well as what the brand stands for. Whether it’s attractive colors that capture the users’ eye like in the case of Google or sleek white-based zen design like in the case of Apple, there are many ways to appeal to your target market. While it's not a "one size fits all", it is important your product is aesthetically pleasing and in tune with your brand positioning.
Is it efficient? Efficiency comes in many different shapes and forms these days - from energy efficiency to time efficiency, from technical efficiency to social welfare efficiency. The more efficient the product is in getting the job done, the higher the chances it will appeal to customers. Efficiency in producing the product (e.g. cost efficiency, productive efficiency, etc.) is also important as it will reflect positively on the company’s bottom line. Dyson's products are not only innovative, technologically advanced, modern, and highly functional, but they are also known for their technical and energy efficiency. The Dyson cordless and bagless vacuum range (which is a product design Dyson pioneered), for example, provides time efficiency and functional efficiency to its customers in that they don't have to change bags, plug in cords, pull the vacuum around, etc.
Does it speak to its target audience? Last but most certainly not the least, the product should speak to its target audience - not only in that it provides them the value they are looking to get out of it, but also it represents the core values and life style choices the customers subscribe to. Manduka started off 20 something years ago with the pure desire to make an amazing yoga mat - one that was built with passion and designed by yogis for yogis, with roots in the principles of conservancy. They set out to create responsibily sourced products while minimizing environmental waste, a cause the founders and their target customers cared deeply about. A better yoga mat that is high quality, has the right grip, is aesthetically pleasing, easy to carry around, and responsibly sourced spoke to the target audience, and they immediately captured market share as a result. Kaching!
So what can be done to ensure top product quality?
First thing's first...
1.Understand your customers and cater your product offering to their needs. Regularly interview and listen to feedback from your existing customers and potential customers. Make changes, tweak, adjust, and expand on your product offering according to their needs and usage data.
2. Build a robust and well-structured product strategy: Your product strategy is a roadmap for your product's journey from creation to launch to re-iteration and expansion, and as such is an important piece of document for yourself (to keep yourself honest and on point), for your partners and co-founders (to ensure alignment and consistency) as well as your wider organization. It should include information about your product, what gap it fills in the market, what value it provides to its customer base, a deeper look into the competition and your points of differentiation, as well as your business goals and future vision for your product suite as you grow and scale your business. Make sure you keep the document 'live' by getting plenty of feedback from your team, trusted advisors and your customers as they engage with you. 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 including aesthetics, ease of use, durability: Whether you are an online business or a physical store, whether you are a one person operation or or a multi-thousand employee company, whether you sell luxury products or a budget airline, your design choices matter. See below Apple's design principles, and apply them to your products / brand as best possible.
4. Implement a quality management system early on: A QMS is a set of business practices comprising the planning and execution of delivering a product. It ensures quality, structure, consistency, and re-assurance for your business. You should include in your QMS principles behind your product line, processes, procedures, and responsibilities for continuously delivering high-quality products and services that meet regulatory, environmental, and customer requirements. The four prominent quality processes widely used across industries are ISO 9001, AS9100, Six Sigma, and CMMI. Which industry standard QMS you choose to subscribe to and follow will depend on your industry, your company, and your own values. Do thorough research and choose one that works for your needs. Train leadership and employees on the standards and make sure you implement and live by them - do let your customers know what QMS standards you hold yourself to.
5. Experiment and innovate to stay ahead of the curve: It's important to build and instill a culture of innovation and experimentation from the beginning to stay ahead of the curve. Culture is everything, and innovation will come from all levels and all angles, if you create the right environment for it. 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, then test again: It’s essential to test every product before launch so you can anticipate how buyers might react and see what changes you might need to make before you release it to the public. While "launch and iterate" is a strategy that's been used commonly in the tech product circles to optimize for speed, there is an optimal balance between launching quickly and ensuring high quality that you should aim to achieve. 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.
Congratulations on nailing your products! Next week, I will be back with a piece about spreading the word with marketing and promotion - stay tuned!
Connect with me at merve@leadrisecoaching.com if you have any questions / comments / experiences you would like to share on getting your first 100 customers!
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