When I got my first iPod touch, I was thrilled. It was my first Apple product and the first touch screen experience. It grew on me quickly and I would have it with me everywhere I go. I used it heavily for anything and everything it could do. But then as many more gadgets entered my life including a MacBook, an Andriod Phone, and the iPod Nano, my use of the iTouch became minimal and a rarity in my daily routine. As a customer, I evolved.
It’s a common phenomenon. As processes mature and new technology is invented, made available and affordable, preferences and lifestyles get impacted. Everything changes over time… and so does the customer. If you are a service provider, how well do you know if your customers’ usage of the service you provide has not changed over time? Do you have an early warning system to red flag you when your customer grows out of your service? Are your still working with a happy customer?
These are all important questions to consider before and after delivering your service to your customer. In software development projects, we ponder upon this during the requirements elicitation activities through brainstorming sessions using mockups, wireframes and a lot of documentation that finally becomes the specifications to develop on. Traditional development methodologies were lacking in its process to revisit these questions at various stages during development, and thus resorting to some false hope and inconsistent efforts to conduct periodic customer review meetings, in order to find out if the answers have changed any.
The reality is that we don’t need to do a lot to find out if our customer is still using our services the way they intended to use it the first time. No matter what industry you offer your services to, it can start with this simple question: “What does a day in the life of the customer look like today?” Ask yourself and then ask your customer. Learn and learn again. You will be surprised by what you find, and I guarantee that you will see changes in the way your service fits into their daily workflow. Do this often enough and you are sure to keep a happy customer.
I tried this last week and it worked like magic. How do you keep your services always in sync with the changing needs of your customer?
Inspired by: A Day In The Life Of Your Customer by The Instigator Blog
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