Five Benefits of Being Design (Customer) Focused

Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Create raving fans with customer focused product design.

Great design delights customers.

It also provides significant benefits to business. Design differentiates a product in a competitive market, enhances the brand, generates customer loyalty and reduces the marketing budget.

How does great design do all this?

By being customer focused.

The best, most successful products are designed to suit the customer.  They’re shaped  from a commitment to understand customers’ needs and behaviour, and to enhance their overall experience.

Customers – members of the marketing team

Customer commitment, combined with innovation and creativity  will enhance  the brand, reinforce customer loyalty and create brand advocacy amongst customers.  Customers become ‘raving fans’ who, via word of mouth, will do much of the marketing for the business, meaning less  budget is required for marketing activities. ‘Raving fans’ become unpaid members of your marketing team.

Product re-design = new life

For mature products, re-design can breathe new life, sales and profits. into a product.   Adding new features, attributes or presenting the product in a different way, extends the life of a mature product.

Here are five benefits of customer focused design:

1. Differentiates a product amongst competitors
2. Enhances brand – (from product functionality, innovation, creativity and customer commitment perspectives)
3. Extends the life of  mature products
4. Builds loyalty and brand advocacy by converting customers to  ‘raving fans’
5. Decreases long term marketing expenditure

How to re-design?

Can you shape your product/service to better suit your customers’ needs?  Here are three ways to approach a re-design.

1. Integrate product or service re-design  into the existing continued improvement processes of your business.
2. Find out what customers are wanting and what they think of your products/services. Ask them and listen. Social media platforms particularly make this easy to do.
3. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Be a customer of your own product/service for further ideas.

Great product design – an example

Great, customer focused design is exciting as  it combines creativity,  innovation and the potential  to really satisfy your customers’ needs. The Berocca Twist ‘n’ Go is a favourite example cited in last week’s BRW.

This new product drops the fizzy tablet into the water as the package is opened.  No need to go searching for water when you are in need of a Berocca®!

With sports waters accounting  for 8% of Australia’s $1 billion bottled water industry, Berocca Twist ‘n’ Go promises new opportunities and attractive sales forecasts, as it can now be included in the cold drinks cabinet – rather than just the medicine/vitamins section of the supermarket.

And BRW reported that sales for Berocca’s new product have already exceeded predictions by 10%.

How can you re-design your product/service to better suit your customers’ needs?

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