You Are Not Your User
If you are an expert in your business, you know more than almost anyone about what you do and about the details of your product. Your product, by the way, can be a service, a website, or a tangible good. Whatever constitutes your product, you can likely see your expertise and genius in every part of it. The problem is ? your customers can’t.
Customers need to complete a task with your product so they can move on to other tasks they need to complete. All your customers see in your product is a tool to help them accomplish a goal.
In order to make a successful product, you need to understand who uses the product and why they are using it. You also have to accept that the product is not being created primarily for you.
How to you find out what your customers want?
- Ask them ? no seriously, it is that easy.
- Watch customers use your product. Record any problems they have and what type of information they expect to see in your product.
- Test out new features, functionally, and design. Customers love giving feedback, and they will have a better user experience in the future because they feel like they helped make the new product better.
Learning what your customers want does not have to be fancy, expensive, or time consuming.
Remember, you are the expert, but your customers aren’t.
Give them what you think they need, and they will go somewhere else.
Give them what they actually need, and they will love you for it.