All boils down to three fundamentals that you need to follow to succeed
1. INSIGHTS FIRST
Truly understanding what customers’ basic category needs are, is the foundation of every success. This sounds trivial, and it is where most companies fail because they underestimate the deceptive feeling of “knowing it all”.
German beer brands, for instance, have been in the markets for centuries. It turns out that most of them still do not understand the core need behind a standard beer consumption: a refreshment drink for adults. A standard beer is not a craft beer that is consumed like a good glass of wine. Its main purpose is to be refreshed.
How can brands gain such fundamental insights? Asking customers? What customers answer is biased and superposed by many others things. Customers -especially in low involvement categories – are hardly aware of why they consume a product or category.
Still, it is possible to find out. All starts with the understanding that this – like most important insights – is a question of cause and effect. What causes consumers to drink beer over wine, Budweiser over Becks?
It requires a causal analysis. Not just descriptive data, correlation, comparing groups, or just doing qualitative exploration. Luckily applying Causal AI is a common practice in insights. E.g. www.cx-ai.com is an approach that even integrates qualitative feedback.
2. BECOME SIMPLY BETTER: Be Better at Product & Service
Ones you know what’s important from the customers’ implicit viewpoint, you can start to work on this. This work should become a strategic long-term focus. Focusing means saying “no” to other relevant topics.
A global leader in industrial packaging sticks in my mind. We took a look at customer feedback with the lens of finding the essence of the industry.
Originally we were thinking of the company having a broad product range, being cost-competitive and have flexible delivery process is key in the industry. Oh boy, we were so wrong.
We finally understood that it is all about safety and security. Industrial packaging mostly carries nasty chemicals or other expensive liquid products. Any leakage, any delivery problem, any stacking issue, or any deviation from a norm is causing massive problems for the buying decision-makers and their stakeholders.
In essence, most buyers look for “the safe choice”. Along the way we needed to realize that “the safe choice” can not be just marketing claim and must be a commitment and promise towards the customers. It turned out that “the safe choice” needed to be an internal product and service strategy first.
Just in a second step, it could become a positioning in communication.
3. NO COMPROMISE
While its key to simply become better in what really counts for customers, for communication, another topic kicks in.
Communication job is foremost to achieve that your brand is recognized and considered in the moment of purchase. This is done by being rememberable, by being distinct in all kinds of simple aspects.
This does not mean that your product or services should be distinct. It is of most importance to detangle and not mix both tasks.