Jul 30, 2022

There is a great quote from Henry Ford that he either did or didn’t say. Whether he said it or not, and we have no evidence either way, it’s a great quote and I love the meaning behind it.

Ford (apparently) said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”

So, am I suggesting that you shouldn’t bother asking customers for information when you’re looking to innovate? No, that’s not what I’m suggesting. However, what I am suggesting is that you first look internally and ask yourself, and your team if you have one, “what do I already know about my customers?”

What are their pain points?

What problems do I solve for them?

Why do they come to me or my business?

Why have they remained a customer?

How well do I really know my customers?

What do they really think of my brand?

Whilst some customers in certain types of businesses are perfectly capable of verbalising exactly what sort of innovations you could apply to your product or service, others will be totally incapable of verbalising their needs and even the motivations for their needs, although they may still give it a good go – meaning that they will provide feedback that has absolutely no value to your business at all!

You’ll be amazed at the insights you can gather from asking yourself some key questions about your customers and being honest in your answers. Really honest.

Whilst it’s rewarding to acknowledge what you’re good at, the greatest benefit will come from answering the more challenging questions such as “What am I not doing very well for my customers?” and “Where is my customer experience weak?”

That’s the real gold right there. If you have repeat customers, then clearly you are doing something right. Or, you’re providing an essential product or service and so they have no choice but to engage with your brand. If someone else comes along with a similar product or service and can offer a better customer experience than you, then you could be in trouble if you’re not already close to your customer experience.

Perhaps you don’t communicate much with your customers because you think they won’t want to be bothered by constant emails or posts. Have you asked them? Perhaps they would like to hear from you once a month via email, or they would like to follow your social media posts, or read your blogs on your website?

If you haven’t asked, then how can you possibly know what they want?

Have you ever scoped out your customer journey from start to finish? Do you know where the customer journey actually starts? I’ll give you a bit of a clue: it doesn’t start when they contact you. It started waaaaaay back before they even made contact. When your brand was just a tiny glint in their eye.

So, before you even speak to your customers for feedback, do your homework first so that you know which questions to ask them. Rather than asking for general feedback on your entire service, you can ask them about the payment process or the aftercare service. That way, you’re receiving much more valuable insight into their experience of your brand.

Analyse your customers so that you really understand who they are and why they even engaged with your brand in the first place.

Scope out your customer journey and identify both your strong and weak touchpoints.

Understand who your customers are and what their interests are. Remember, they are people at the end of the day with interests outside of work! So, it doesn’t all have to be work related.

And finally, ask yourself, how can you add value to their lives to make sure they keep coming back for more?

And if you feel you could do with some guidance with asking your own questions or scoping out your customer journey, please get in touch and we can have a chat. jennifer@calmblueconsulting.co.uk.