For years, I’ve struggled to find eyeglasses that fit the bridge of my nose. This has happened to me as a consumer as well. It reminds me that the gift giver doesn’t really know me, or maybe they didn’t take the time to find out more about me. When I open a box and find earrings or a necklace, I know it’s about the giver and not me, the recipient. For example, one of the “me” gifts I often receive is jewelry, although I rarely wear it. We all know what this feels like: Someone buys you a gift because they like it a lot, not because it matches your taste, needs, or desires. As a professor of marketing at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, I teach my MBA students that the best lessons in anticipating a consumer’s needs and satisfying their deeper desires involve avoiding three common gift-giving errors. One easy way to adopt a more customer-centric mindset is to think back on a time when you’ve received - and have been disappointed by - a birthday or holiday present. As you grow in your marketing career, you’ll learn tools and techniques, such as user experience (UX) testing, focus groups, and ethnographies, that will help you become more customer-centric.īut the first thing you need to learn to do is change your mindset. This affinity, however, limits your ability to become customer-centric and excel in your field, especially as companies compete to surprise and delight consumers. Understandably, people may be drawn to companies that make things that appeal to themselves. I’ve also seen this frequently among designers who create products and services that they want and need. Many who are new to the industry assume that the customer is just like them. This is a common mistake among first-time marketers who are increasingly involved not just in promoting a new product, but also contributing to the design and testing of it. The product designers and marketers who had all worked closely on this product loved it, but the consumer experience missed the mark. But as we watched her grudgingly climb under a table on her hands and knees and struggle to plug in the device, it became clear that, despite all its innovative features, this printer really wasn’t designed for her. I remember vividly an older woman who was excited to print photos of her grandchildren at home. We brought it into people’s homes, and I observed as they hooked it up to their computers. Years ago, I worked with a product development team that was testing a printer prototype. That means, really seeing and addressing issues from their point of view. Be sensitive and open to what customers want and need, and not simply assume what “should” appeal to them. The antidote for this gift-giving error is to develop empathy. The “should” gift: This one comes wrapped in a bow of judgment of what the recipient should be or should do, for example receiving a toolbox from the family member who wants you to do more around the house.Then, focus on them and avoid the assumption that everyone wants the same features or attributes out of a product or experience. First think about who your target audience is.
One of the primary purposes of gift-giving is to create emotional closeness, but generic gifts are a missed opportunity to understand and connect with someone at a deeper level. The generic gift: Cash and gift cards - these are the gift-giving staples that offload the work onto the recipient to figure out what they want.Getting curious can lead to insightful discoveries about your customers that inform both your product design and marketing strategies.
As a marketer or product designer, get yourself out of the way and put the recipient (i.e., the customer) first.
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