Do you remember when you developed your new product or service? At some point, you discussed how you were going to get it to market, how you were going to get customers to buy it. What did your checklist look like, to get it to market? Some of the points you probably checked off included:
- Digital platform to market, such as Facebook, Google adds etc.
- Brochures, website update, signage etc.
- Staff and sales training
- For some, a financial forecast or budget of some sort
- Secure supply or manufacturing assurances
The above briefly addresses the majority of situations. So we launch, and then we wait to analyse performance. A month or two later all costs are now “sunk costs”, so to beef up our lackluster sales we make a few modifications to our offering, or product, boost our advertising, speak with inspiration at the next sales meeting, and live the next month in hopeful anticipation.
What’s missing from our radar? What significant factor did we possibly miss or undervalue in relation to the launch of our new product?
Logic Vs. Emotion
The following experience would have happened to us all at some point. I remember a few years ago going to a Concert-In-The-Park with a bunch of friends. It was a fantastic event, great music, great weather, awesome company. We all nibbled away at the various snacks and the $10 bottle of sparkling, really tasted like a $100 bottle, despite the plastic glasses! Blimey, did they get the price point wrong on that bottle.
So now, more educated on my bargain shopping I go back to the shop and buy half a dozen bottles more of this excellent value “champagne”. Along comes Christmas, and you guessed it, I lay on the sparkling. And you guessed it again, it tasted like cheap $10 sparkling “wine.”
Ten years ago, a now well-documented study was undertaken by the British Veterinary Society, and the findings apply to all of us and our businesses. In brief, one of the conclusions was that the satisfaction of the customer, about the vet, was dominated more about what the vet wore, and above that of their medical results.
The message in all of this, plus my sparkling wine, is that it is all in the perception. The experience. You have probably heard this expression before: we buy on emotion and justify on logic. Yet most of the messaging we give out there is all about logic. In fact, most of everything we do about developing and getting our product to market is all about logic.
So back to my headline. If you think your customers will part with their hard-earned cash to buy our product, at least in sufficient quantity to make your business efforts worthwhile, you are wrong. Our customers have a choice.
In today’s’ times, customers hold the power, they are well informed and have access to many alternatives besides your product. The purchase of your product is won or lost in the minds of your customer. So the question is, how do you influence the emotional transaction? How do you go about creating a total experience that results in a significant competitive advantage to you?
How do you rate your business for completely immersing the culture of your team into understanding, living and improving the customer experience?
I ask this because your product is about the experience your customer has with your product, more than the features and benefits of the product itself. As is your service offering, assuming you don’t have a physical product to sell.
So to complete the title of this document: Every Product is a Service. Every Service is about the Experience of the Journey.
Would you like to know more about how to improve the Experience Journey?
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