Suresh Kannan is Model NChief Product Officer. He has over 25 years of experience in product development and management.
Leaders pour their hearts and souls into building companies that solve real-world problems, but sometimes, a sharp focus on growth and innovation causes leaders to lose sight of their original purpose: helping customers. Customers drive business – they should be at the heart of every strategic decision. Even the most innovative products fall flat if they don’t match customer needs at the right time.
According to McKinsey, companies that embrace customer experience-led growth drive revenue. The organization has observed that businesses that improve customer satisfaction by 20% increase cross-selling rates by 15%-20% and share of portfolio by 5%-10%. A key component of experience-led growth is customer-driven innovation.
Product teams can’t just create what they THINK customers want. They need actual customer input. To gain this critical insight, leaders must engage with users to shape a product that solves real market needs. Nearly 90% of businesses believe it is important to have a complete view of their customers across channels and platforms, but only 31% have achieved this goal.
Creating multiple touch points allows companies to gather direct feedback to guide product development. In my career, I have seen the benefits of this strategy firsthand. Consider the following engagement opportunities you can use to improve your products and improve customer satisfaction.
Customer Advisory Board
Customer advisory boards provide a formal platform to engage directly with senior decision makers from your customer base. My team gathers about a dozen executives twice a year to discuss our multi-year strategic plan. These meetings help us answer critical questions, including:
• What issues are top of mind for these leaders and decision makers?
• Does our roadmap align with real market priorities?
• How can we adjust our product strategy to better address customer challenges?
This insight can help inform investment priorities in the short and long term.
Strategic business reviews
Involving clients in strategic business reviews can give you perspective on their strategic goals. My team conducts quarterly on-site workshops with individual accounts. Through face-to-face discussions and collaborative workshops, you can gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ unique requirements and pain points, helping you align your offerings to their needs in real time.
Product user groups
The executive order tells only part of the story. Product developers need the perspective of everyday users to understand specific real-world use cases. User advisory groups allow you to gather feedback, discuss pain points, and collaboratively explore potential solutions. These regular touch points can translate into product innovations that solve the most pressing customer needs and provide a better user experience.
Innovation Partners Program
Engaging customers early in the development cycle allows you to leverage industry user expertise and new stress testing features. My company’s innovation partner program works with a handful of early adopters before starting code development for each project.
In a program like this, real users must test all products for real-world business use cases and scenarios. These partnerships give customers direct influence on critical use cases and product capabilities, resulting in market-ready products.
Consumer Consortia
Our clients create industry consortia to gather and summarize feedback on what the company should focus on. My company hosts consortia discussions at regular intervals, listens to input, and works diligently to address suggestions in our product updates. This approach has yielded useful results and elicited positive feedback from participants.
Achieving this collaboration requires engaging consortium leaders to discuss how your company can facilitate and support the group, such as providing opportunities to gather at conferences or online communities, and creating a formal cycle of reaction. Keep in mind that this is your customers’ consortium, not your company’s. Keep an open mind and listen carefully to their input so you can be a better partner.
Organic engagement
Conversations with clients don’t always have to be formal events. While product-focused interviews are useful, day-to-day activities and interactions can also provide critical feedback. Analyze customer service support tickets and sales conversations for common themes. Evaluate platform data to understand how customers use the product in day-to-day operations. This information can reveal topics that may not appear in planned discussions.
My product managers hold monthly open forums where customers can ask questions, learn about ongoing work, and discuss specific tickets or issues. We collect themes from these events to explore more deeply.
Aggregating information from all these touchpoints can provide a comprehensive view of what customers need. When you can meet their specific requirements, customers feel heard, understood and valued.
Building Relationships
These engagement initiatives drive product innovation and build stronger relationships with customers and users. Providing multiple channels for feedback can encourage open communication, create transparency, and reinforce your commitment to your partners. Through comprehensive data, you can stay abreast of current industry conditions, emerging issues and evolving needs that can help deliver a transformative product that exceeds expectations.
Customers are the lifeblood of an organization, so let them guide you. Embracing customer-driven innovation can strengthen loyalty and empower you to anticipate and respond to market changes, giving your company a competitive edge and strengthening long-term success.
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