Product value refers to the benefits, or value (perceived or otherwise), that a product offers to consumers. A product's overall value is based on how well it meets or exceeds expectations and, unsurprisingly, product value directly affects pricing strategy and design; prioritization, targeting, messaging, and other such important business functions are driven by product value.
No matter what you're selling, there will always be a new lever you can pull to add value to your product or service. This article outlines 9 that we think can help you do just that.
Let's jump in!
01. Offer Expert Advice
There's immense value in positioning yourself, your product, or your platform as a destination for unbiased, helpful advice. Whether educating your customers or creating resources for those consuming them, make sure it's worth their time regardless of whether or not it leads to a sale.
On top of this, there are many ways to improve your advice. One of the simplest ways, which is becoming universally applicable, is to leverage analytics and data storytelling solutions that make data more accessible and actionable for you, your team, and your customers.
02. Bundling and packaging
This isn't just about your product's appearance. It's also about how you create a sense of need and desire, the different purchasing options you present, and how you position added benefits that improve product value versus what it would have been otherwise.
Taking analytics as an example again, adding analytics capabilities to a software product is a proven way to enhance the value and stickiness of your product. Customers expect to see data in every software product so they're better able to understand and make use of, its value. The only question that remains is whether you you build your own analytics or buy it from a third party (short answer: it depends).
03. Customer Service
This is a no-brainer, especially in the age of Amazon where we're conditioned as a culture to expect instant, stress-free satisfaction at every step of the customer journey. There isn't enough time in the day to detail just how to optimize your customer service. But a few things to get you started:
- Leverage online resources: this article from KSL is a great starting point
- Start by understanding your customer (their needs, pains, and so on)
- Seek and promote feedback from them
- Implement industry-standard best practices if you can and where you can
- Set customer service management KPIs and analyses to make sure you're able to understand, and improve upon, the state of your service department
04. Optimize Purchase & Adoption Rates
The more frequently people purchase from you, the more valuable your service, pricing, benefits, and related items become to them. For example, credit card companies and airlines partner to offer consumers added value through frequent flyer miles on an airline.
And while this is a great strategy for B2C customers, it doesn't actively translate to the B2B market. This is because most B2B purchases typically come in the form of long-term subscriptions, contracts, or licenses. The point is: dependent on your context, make sure you clearly measure purchase patterns, adoption rates, and similarly relevant KPIs that are strong indicators of success (or struggle).
05. Refine Your Customers' Education
When on-boarding new customers, we all (hopefully) understand the importance of providing them the appropriate support and resources so that they make the best use of your product and service. And, the more knowledge they have, the more value they invariably get from it. Yet while having a dedicated resource to guide customers through a product is never a bad thing, having processes in place that facilitate and reward self-learning is better and more scalable.
The major upside of providing resources to new customers and encouraging them to learn on their own goes beyond mere autonomy. Provisions such as this generally accelerate time to value and protect against hiring and retention challenges that may otherwise lead to significant bottlenecks. See how you can utilize various resources to achieve this.
06. Don’t discriminate
In the past, it was common to provide what may be perceived as qualitative services which, based upon someone's level of purchase, involvement, or interaction, companies would provide a higher quality of products. This would give preferential treatment to less run-of-the-mill customers and has become somewhat antiquated.
Today, organizations that aspire to provide the same level of service to every customer, irrespective of monetary gain, simply do better. There are many positive intangibles that come from happy customers, not the least of which include reviews, improved scalability, and brand perception.
07. Consistently Upgrade
Just because something works once, doesn't mean it will continue to do so. There's an endless list of companies that failed to consistently innovate that ended up...failing...because of that.
If you let your products, services, or teams stagnate, there are always those who will happily take your place. Constantly upgrades and improvements are a necessity. One of the best ways to implement a growth culture is by leveraging customer feedback. Look for ways to implement the following questions:
- What do you like about the product?
- What do you dislike about the product?
- What would you add to the product?
- How would you make the product better?
- Are you still satisfied with the product?
08. Deliver Fast
You can differentiate yourself by guaranteeing on-time delivery or faster delivery, which many of us have now come to expect.
Look no further than Amazon - where products delivered virtually instantly, at our doorstep, have basically become standard practice. And if a company is able to control the delivery time of physical products, there's no excuse when it comes to rapidly deploying SaaS solutions without compromising on the quality of that deployment. This comes down to streamlining product information, delivering it in the right order, and showing users where and how they can find the most value. At Toucan, for example, we're proud to say that we're able to deploy our analytics solutions in 1-2 weeks and show value to our customers.
09. Keep Your Customers in the Loop
Newsletters and other forms of customer communications (e.g. live events, webinars etc.) are great. And not only to upsell or introduce new products. Positioning your organization as a leader in the industry by keeping them abreast of the latest analytics and trends that are relevant to them keeps your brand front-of-mind and, more importantly, trusted.
The methods we covered in this piece can all be applied, in some way, to help you add more value to your product. This undoubtedly requires creativity, innovation, and a willingness to work harder than your competitors...but, hey, we believe in you. Especially if you're equipped with a stellar analytics partner 😉
