Go beyond solving your ideal client's problem
When you create a new product or a service, there’s an important aspect that you’ll want to consider. It’s the experience your client will go through when using your product or service. In other words, the primary intention is to find ways to make your client feel good every time they interact with your product or service. With this, you should look at how you can satisfy your client’s core needs.
There are many theories listing human needs you could address. One of the most popular is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, expressed as a pyramid diagram as shown here.
Taking Maslow’s theory to another level, we can construct a list or what I like to call 'flavours' of human needs, which can be more helpful in determining how to make our clients feel good about our products and services.
There are so many more flavours of human needs you could list, so let’s simplify things by referring to the very powerful life coaching tool known as 'the six core needs' created by Anthony Robbins. With this tool, it is interesting to note the similarities with the levels in Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. I think, however, most people can identify more with these six core needs, which are, the need for:
Certainty: control, safety, security or comfort
Uncertainty: variety and adventure
Significance: acknowledgement and recognition
Connection: love and belonging
Growth: expansion
Contribution: giving
If you think about the six core needs from a product or service perspective, you’ll realise that the most popular and successful online products meet at least three of those needs. So what’s the big deal about the number ‘three’? When a product meets three of the six core needs, it becomes a habit or an integral part of your client’s life. The client will keep coming back and will want to use your product over and over again because it makes them feel good and they enjoy the experience. For example, let’s think about Facebook. Have you noticed how it has become part of a daily routine for most of us? Why? Because it meets the need for certainty, significance, variety, connection and contribution. LastPass is another good example of meeting the need for certainty in the form of security.
Another example of meeting your client’s need for certainty and significance is by handling their buyer’s remorse and letting them know that they made the right choice straight after their purchase. For example, many years ago, I was managing a training centre. Whenever a student signed up to any of our courses, we made sure to give them a call to welcome them into the program, and walk them through the next steps, which satisfied their need for certainty and significance. We also let them know that moving forward, we were only a phone call away and available to answer any of their questions, which again satisfied their need for certainty, security and comfort – after we’d made contact, they felt safe and supported at all times.
So, over to you now. Think about the different ways you can enhance your client’s experience of your product or service by meeting at least three of their core needs.
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