The question that had been on my mind for some time was ‘How do I retain my customers so that they can continue using my Products’.
Let’s approach the above problem statement with a different question, ‘Why am I losing my customers’?
Let’s explore some of the reasons:
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – What could have been unique selling point couple of years back might not be having the same USP in today’s ever-changing dynamic world. The Technology is moving at a very fast pace and new innovations continue to happen which are providing better solutions compared to the product you are selling. We need to rethink and create a new Strategy on our USP.
- Stay Competitive – The Market, or ‘My’ Customers in which my Unique product was very popular is now no longer unique. My niche product is not ‘niche’ anymore and there are other players who have built upon ‘My idea’ and they brought in new innovative approaches. Now, because this new player is already starting with my Product in mind as a baseline, & already considering me as a Competition so their MVP (Minimum Viable Product) itself will have more innovation which I might have not even thought of. While they were building this, we were not having the same thought process because we were already generating revenues and was in our comfort zone. We never thought, what if someone launches similar kind of product, how should I continue to Stay Competitive. The Outcome: We need to continuously think on new ideas to stay competitive, else soon my product gets into outdated list as my customers will go where they get more, and people love new and refreshing changes. Normal gets boring.
- Ineffective Marketing – Marketing strategies need to be relooked into continuously. If my product is good and marketing had been good in the past, it will definitely sell but with time if I do not engage my customers differently, my old marketing strategy will start becoming ineffective. In today’s scenario and with so many Online platforms for marketing the Marketing strategy needs to be improvised. It should make your product stand out, every time.
- Build Relationships – Building a relationship was easy earlier because we as humans used to walk more to a particular store, say hi, talk about families, discuss about various products on sale, smile more, express more and building relationship did not require much effort as it came naturally and the connect was more. With the current Technology setup, I am looking at a screen, (no expressions here), selecting, comparing products and filling my cart with my requirements, doing the payment and everything is getting delivered to my door. All I do is say thanks to the Delivery guy, and that too, maybe frowning because it was supposed to be delivered in the morning, but he came in the evening. So, building relationships now has even got more challenging, the entire ‘Expression’ landscape has changed, and building relationship is getting more focussed on, creating a mailing list, providing digital freebies and sending notifications via email or SMS or in-app notification, engaging more using social media, having a Facebook or Instagram groups with regular product videos or updates.
- Surprise & Delight – This is always welcome, and I will be having a big smile if I suddenly get a Freebie after I purchased a product or subscribed to a service. The Freebie could be a sample or a promotion or a try-out product which could actually be helpful when someone is buying the main product. A delighted customer will always remember you and in return will be loyal to your product.
- Community engagement – Create an online forum, LinkedIn community groups, regularly create Polls where people can ask questions, answer to other’s queries based on their experiences. Create puzzles to solve, let others showcase their skills, demonstrate abilities. This is being done by lots of websites and it definitely will have an impact on your Product sale, and retention.
These are just few of the things that was on top of my mind and is definitely not end of the list.
As a Business, we, as the Product Owner, would need to analyze what best fits to our ‘Area of Service’ and ideate, innovate continuously, change strategies, and use the latest technologies in our favor. And yes, it is a never-ending process.
Published in LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/dy8Nen_G
MIDASRAY 