What customers want from your product or service

Companies often invest enormous amounts of money in market research, keeping on top of trends and watching competitors. Did you know that companies that focus on their customers’ needs earn 60% more profit than those that don’t? 

The most important thing for companies to understand is their customers’ needs and wants. Knowing these can set you in good stead to increase your customer retention, revenue, word of mouth referrals, and lead generation. This article will talk about the main factors that customers look for when buying a product or service. In addition, we will cover the following:

• Pricing
• Quality
• Control
• Loyalty
• Efficiency
• Relevancy
• Customer service
• Discounts and offers
• Feeling valued

Pricing is crucial for your business and vital for your customers. They want the pricing above all else to be fair. When deciding on your pricing structure, look at your competitors and gauge if you wish to be higher or lower priced. While price anchoring isn’t always the most effective way, it is vital to understand what customers expect for a product in your niche.  

Customers are more than happy to pay for a brand they trust and know exactly what they’re buying. If you’re open and honest about your pricing, customers generally won’t mind paying the price you set. You can choose to justify your pricing with:

• Good customer service
• High-quality product
• Sustainable or environmentally friendly product
• Rewards for loyal customers

The quality of a product is vital for your customers. We all know notable companies that aren’t afraid to charge more for their products that they market as higher quality. When you can offer a product that does the following:

• It lasts a long time
• The latest features
• Solves a problem

All of these features are what customers look for when it comes to buying a new product. However, it would also be great to figure out more specific features that customers need by doing more market research and the willingness to learn from your customers’ feedback. 

Consumers today want more control when purchasing your products. They choose how they are marketed by signing up for your newsletter or by following your business on social media. It’s no different when they’re buying their products. Here are some ways you can give your customers more control over what they buy:

• Offer customisation
• Let them choose delivery methods
• Listen to feedback given in customer surveys and reviews
• Organise focus groups to improve your product 

Depending on your product, if you don’t offer these choices, customers may look for these choices somewhere else. 

Considering it costs almost five times as much to attract a new customer compared to retaining a customer, you would think that companies would prioritise loyalty programmes more. Customers enjoy receiving bonuses or rewards for their loyalty to your brand and product. The more competition there is around your product, the more of a need for a loyalty programme. Great loyalty programmes make it more attractive for customers to sign up and aren’t a high cost for your business.  

Efficiency is another fundamental factor that customers want when they buy a product nowadays. Thanks to companies like Amazon promising next day delivery, it’s no surprise that customers expect their products to arrive promptly. Making sure your product arrives on time is often the difference between a good and bad review. You can ensure that your customers are happy by managing your inventory effectively and efficiently. 

When people buy products, they generally buy them because they are trendy or classic products that will always be popular. New and modern items will keep attracting new customers. Therefore, you need to constantly improve your product to stay updated with the latest trends and societal developments. 

Good customer service can significantly impact whether or not a customer decides to repurchase your product or service. Stats show that customer service has a direct impact on the revenue and overall business. There are plenty of ways to improve your customer service. You can use different tools to make your life easier and make your customers happier. Some options include: 

• Chatbots
• In-depth FAQ sections
• Automated emails and customised templates
• Use social media to answer questions that don’t require in-depth answers

Even though you can’t offer discounts all year round, you can offer the occasional discount or offer to attract new customers or retain new customers. Customers enjoy very few things more than getting a good deal on a product or service that they want. With so much competition online nowadays, offers and discounts can be great marketing techniques to delight customers and stand out from the competition.  

The last thing that customers look for when they buy your products or services is the feeling of being valued. Unfortunately, a lot of companies forget that without their customers, there would be no business. This is why it’s essential to make your customers feel valued. 

There are a lot of ways you can do this. The smaller your business is, the more personalised you can make it for your customers. Here are some ways that you can show appreciation for your customers:

• Write a quick handwritten thank you note
• Enclose a voucher for a discount off their next order
• Reward them with points that they can use to get money off later
• Thank your customers and interact with them on social media
• Listen to their suggestions and implement them if you think they’re good ideas

Discover why customer feedback is so important in our article: Why customer feedback is key to running a successful business.

While you’re focusing on giving your customers what they want, you can use the Countingup app to save time on tedious accounting tasks. The Countingup app and business current account makes your bookkeeping easy by automating complex tax and accounting tasks so that you can spend more time running your business. Find out more here.