Product Design Archives

Boost your sales with a research-backed method for innovation

Consumer Behavior Product design May 26, 2021

The market research method that will drive innovation and boost your sales

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry ford

Sometimes, when we think about innovation, creating new products or services, we think about what is familiar to us.

You might think I wish to create something that I want or something that I am passionate about. While your passion is crucial to keep your engine going, it might not necessarily be what your customers want.

There are two primary schools of thoughts when creating new products:

1] Ideation: Ideate, brainstorm, test as many ideas as you can, and fail fast.
2] Needs and challenges: Find out about your customers’ needs and then serve them.

7 Reasons to conduct usability testing

Customer experience Product design Service design May 6, 2020

In one of my previous posts, 6 Dimensions to measure usability, I explained what is usability and why it’s important to measure.

But…

More often than not, the budget wouldn’t allow it or the project timeline is just too tight.

Usability testing then is put in a second priority. Worse, it could be forgotten.

… and so, I have decided to share with you 7 reasons you should conduct usability testing.

6 Dimensions to measure usability

Customer experience Product design Service design May 5, 2020 1 Comment

Usability is one of the user experience design disciplines. Other disciplines include visual design, information architecture, and interaction design.

Ignore it, and good luck having users “use” your product, whether that is a website, a mobile app, a system, or a device.

What is usability?

In simple words, usability is how easy it is to use an interactive device, system, or website.

When you decide to design a product, you are trying to solve your customer’s problem. You want to provide your customer with a functional product that is easy to use, and therefore useful.

3 Product design principles that work for every customer

Customer experience Product design Service design May 4, 2020

Emotions drive our decisions.

They shape our pains, our joyful moments. If they are good, we keep using the same products or services, and if they are not, we simply stop and walk away.

There is no doubt that customer (or “user”) research is an essential activity to design products and services that truly meet your customer needs.

We want to understand the challenges that our customers face in order to design products and services that deem helpful to them.

If we don’t understand what jobs they are trying to do, what challenges they are facing, and what contributes to a better day for them, then what are we doing?

Do you get frustrated when you can’t open a jar?

Consumer Behavior Product design Service design April 27, 2020 1 Comment

Don’t be that jar.

I bet every designer out there is familiar with the value proposition canvas, on which you basically match how the product or service you are designing, is going to help your customers do the jobs they currently do. It helps you map how you are going to relieve their pains, and how you are going to alleviate their gains.

It looks something like this.

Discover how color psychology can increase your conversions

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Product design October 11, 2019

Know your customer.

In different terms, when it comes to product design or marketing, one key element to your success is knowing your customer.

Some call it in the broader level of a customer segment, where basically you know specific statistics about your customer, such as age, demographics, etc.

Those who take a deeper look to empathize with their customers create personas or avatars. A customer avatar is an imaginary representation of your target customer in a specific segment. The avatar or the persona is Amy who in her mid-20s and loves to go swimming every day after work. She is self-aware and motivated to remain healthy because her Grandma died from such and such disease.

Knowing your customers can help you in so many decisions, from what to say and what not to say, what language to use, where to find them and how to trigger them.

One of those decisions is color.

I can’t believe I never thought human interaction matters that much when buying coffee

Consumer Behavior Customer experience Product design Service design August 8, 2019

It seems like in every ‘business’ discussion, there is no escape to mentioning the emergence of technology and how it is currently changing the customer experience, let alone the future experience.

While I personally love technology and how it enabled me as a consumer, especially when it comes to saving my time, I still believe in the importance of the human factor.

I love it when I complete all the services online, and God only knows how much I hate calling customer service. I love when I buy heavy items online but hate it when I can’t return them.

I also love it when I interact with a friendly face, let’s say when buying coffee. Sometimes a simple hello, a smile and my misspelled name in a takeaway cup make my day.

Which reminds me to ask you…

The reason free trials make you happily spend your money

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Customer experience Sales skills July 26, 2019

I have heard it numerous times by people thinking of starting their own business, reluctant to share ideas or information for free, asking:

“Should I offer it for free?”

Not only start-ups or small businesses but also large corporations hesitate and think…

“But if we gave all this knowledge away for free, they wouldn’t need us. They will just go ahead and do it on their own.”