What Customers Want

Mar 10, 2021, 2:15 PM

If you own a business, you know you need insurance for your company. It protects you if something goes wrong with your building, the materials you use to make the product you sell, and your finished products. Our foundational Businessowners policy is a great starting point. 

Here’s something else your business needs: a product or service that your audience is interested in. Try these three tactics to find out what your customers want and the best way to provide it for them. 

1. Ask them
2. Take time to review
3. Gradual rollout for feedback

Ask them

Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? But it’s not always easy to get the best information. Asking your customers (or if you’re just starting a business, your friends and family) can start with a basic question like, “What do you want?” 

From there you’ll need to do a little digging. If customers want a product you’re already offering, what do they like best about it (so you can emphasize that) or what do they want to tweak to improve it? If you’re looking to fill a gap you think you spot in the market, is it worth your time and effort? 

Take time to review

In the modern world we’re always looking to move forward, bringing in new business and trying new ideas. Don’t forget to take a look back now and then, too. You can make sure that you’re giving your customers what they want (which you discovered because you asked them). 

You might save an old email or download a white paper with useful information — but if you don’t take the time to go back and review your email or read that white paper, it’s just somewhere in storage.

Gradual rollout to get feedback

When you have a new product or service and you’re proud of your accomplishment, it’s no surprise that you want everyone to know about it right away. But if there’s a problem you don’t realize developed during your product’s creation, or if people aren’t using your service the way you expected them to, you’ll have to fix it while it’s out in the world. That can get confusing, with some people using the old version and others the new.  

Divide your audience into several groups, maybe by location or find a set of customers who you know will give you good feedback. Introduce your new product or service just to them for a few weeks and ask them for their reaction. Make some adjustments, then add more people to your “test” group. Keep expanding your audience until your product or service is ready for everyone — and it’s as good as it can be.

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