One of the toughest questions startups have to answer is how they create value for customers. We’ve already shared how to avoid the customer value void. But recently, we were reminded just how powerful getting customer input can be. So we wanted to share three examples and offer some tips on how you can get more customer input.
Example 1: A couple of holiday seasons ago, we were shopping for a gift certificate at an online food retailer. About 30 minutes after buying the gift certificate, we got an email from the president of the company referencing the purchase and asking if we were willing to talk by phone. So we called him.
Turned out that they had only posted that particular product 15 minutes before we bought it and we didn’t provide them the information they wanted. So he wanted to know if we realized what we had bought. We totally missed what they thought was the most exciting feature of the product – a handwritten card with up to 1200 characters. Instead of requesting 1200 characters, we asked for the typical gift card length of about 50 characters. The thing was – we weren’t looking for a handwritten card. We just wanted a pretty gift card. We had overlooked that feature.
Once we knew that it came with a handwritten card, we actually bought 3. And now, we buy some kind of gift certificate every year. This past year, they did some crowdfunding and we bought in as well. Now we are investors in the company because we know how important it is for them to engage with their customers.
Example 2: Several months ago, we backed a Kickstarter for a solar-powered charger for phones that hangs in the window. While they continue to build out the product, an email from the founder asked if we’d be willing to share feedback on a 20-minute Google hangout? We said yes. The reason she wanted feedback: they view their mission as helping people in apartments harness the sun. See, apartment dwellers don’t have a roof to collect solar power. So they need to use their windows. She was surprised to discover that a number of backers, like us, live in houses. She wanted to find out what attracted us to the product. Not only did she learn a lot, but she had something to share in her next Kickstarter update:
Example 3: We recently had to replace a car. Wow, when you start doing a car search today you get bombarded by car sales people. But we knew what we wanted and quickly negotiated the purchase. And then, we let the dealers still contacting us know that we had acquired a vehicle. One emailed back to ask 5 questions:
What a great way to find out why you lost a deal.
In fairness, it’s hard to ask people questions. You might not like what they have to say. And, most people won’t respond. In fact, you should expect that only 10% to 20% will. But the ones who do, will give you gold. This is the kind of gold you can use to fine-tune your message, show proof of concept, fix problems you didn’t even know you had, give you ideas for new products, and even make customers for life. So go ahead and ask them what they think. All it takes is an email.