To create a great product, you need to think about the satisfaction of your customers at every stage of the journey. Customer satisfaction is key to building a good reputation and attracting future customers. From the moment you start making sketches of your product to the moment it arrives in your customer’s hands, there are considerations you can make in order to please the customer. Below is a look into the 5 stages of every product’s journey and how to put customer satisfaction first at each stage.
Design
Every product’s journey starts with a design. To ensure customer satisfaction right out of the gate, involve your customers from the start. Run surveys, organise focus groups and read customer reviews of competitor products to find out what it is that customers want from your product. You can then start incorporating your customers desires and wishes into the initial design. This could include everything from using certain materials/ingredients to making sure that your product has a certain look that appeals to your target market.
Manufacture
Once your product has been designed, it’s time to bring it to life. During this stage, quality control measures are important. A well-design product can be ruined by shoddy manufacturing quality, so make sure to choose a manufacturer that has a good reputation. Consider creating a prototype and test this on customers before going ahead with a large batch. You can then determine whether you need to go back to the drawing board to redesign your product, or whether you need to choose another manufacturer.
Purchase
Once a customer has decided that they want to buy your product, you need to make sure that the purchase process is easy. If you sell your products online, it could be important to create a fast, secure and user-friendly online checkout process. Offering a range of payment options could also help to make it easier for your customers to purchase your product. Make sure that any images of the product and information provided match the actual product.
Fulfilment
In a physical store, fulfilment may be as simple as giving a customer a bag to carry away their product in. However, when buying a product online, fulfilment is a much more detailed process that involves packaging and shipping the product. It’s important that your product is stored correctly and that you keep on top of inventory levels to avoid stockouts. The product then needs to be packaged professionally to protect it from damage during transit and add to the unboxing experience. Finally, it needs to be delivered speedily using a reliable courier. A fulfilment centre can help you to streamline this process and guarantee customer satisfaction.
Customer use
Finally, we arrive at the end stage: customer use. During this stage, it’s essential that you have a reliable customer support service in place – allowing you to answer any customer queries or complaints. Asking customers for feedback could also be worthwhile for making sure that customers are satisfied. It’s possible that there could be ways of improving previous stages of the customer journey, which you can discover through reviews or private feedback.
