Customer Discovery: We’ve all heard about it and may even have done it. The question is, was it done in such a way that you got accurate information that led to your business success? I am a huge fan of the Business Model Canvas and Customer Discovery. I also realize that if I ask my friends, relatives, and network open ended questions, that unintentionally they may tell me what I want to hear. If I ask total strangers those questions, I may still get answers that are not accurate as they may tell me what they think I want to hear. That is why so many people who did customer discovery and launched seem to struggle to get the anticipated results. So, what is the answer to this? Truthfully, more customer discovery…
In other words, Customer Discovery never really ends. If we bring a product or service to the market, we must have a mindset of constant improvement. Oh great, there goes that boomer talking about 1990s business practices. The reality though is that constant improvement has been around as long as there has been free commerce between people. Constant improvement implies that we listen to our customers and improve our products or services based upon their feedback. By customers I mean those who actually paid money for what we have to offer. Potential customers should not carry the weight that paying customers do. You should consider their thoughts but paying customers have already confirmed that they would take action on their feedback. The short of it is, keep the customers happy and they will come back again. If they are not happy, they will share it with the world.
There are a couple of types of Customer Discovery. There is the initial or pre-launch Customer Discovery. This is what yields information that may or may not be entirely accurate but is the basis for our baseline of launching our product/service. Then there is the post-purchase Customer Discovery that can be found in reviews by paying customers. Amazon does a great service by only allowing those who have actually paid for a product to do a review. This is not perfect but does give a business a good idea of how to improve service to their customers or to improve a product.
I simply want to confirm that Customer discovery is important and it never ends. Continued improvement keeps us relevant to our customers. The best feedback comes from paying customers.
The world is your oyster, go out and find your pearls.
Wishing you the greatest success,
Todd Rausch