What is Concept Testing? Definition, Methods, Types & Examples

As a product manager, I get requests for adding new features to our existing products daily. Along with that, people always come up to me with new product ideas. It gets difficult to decide which feature requests to take up and which product to invest in for your organization. Especially when you consider that 95% of all product launches fail.

That’s why it’s essential to ensure that every aspect of the product and its launch is perfect. That’s where concept testing comes in.  

What is Concept Testing?

Concept testing is defined as a research method that involves asking customers questions about your concepts and ideas for a product or service before actually launching it. Thus, you can gauge your customers’ acceptance and their willingness to buy and therefore make critical decisions before the launch. 

In this post, we will talk about the benefits and different methods of concept testing. You will also learn how to decide which method will be best suited for your research. We will then summarize with real-world examples how concept testing was vital in helping companies launch their products successfully.

Benefits of concept testing

I always assume that every new feature or product idea I come up with will succeed. However, that’s seldom the case. Only customers can determine whether an idea will succeed, or will it crash and burn. That is why it’s vital to test your ideas and concepts before launching to your customers. The insights gathered using concept testing will help you launch effective and successful products.

Using concept testing, you can also get in-depth insights into different aspects of your idea. You can ask questions about a specific feature, look and feel, pricing, and more. Thus you can assure the validity of every detail before launching the product.

Organizations and businesses use surveys to carry out concept testing making it a simple proposition for brands of all sizes to utilize. In the following section, we will discuss the different methods of concept testing.

Concept Testing Methods

Over the years, researchers have designed and applied many different concept testing methods. These methods are categorized based on how the concepts are displayed. Each of these methods is suitable for different types of research. Concept testing is easily achieved with the help of a research platform. Here are the four primary methods of concept testing:

1. Comparison testing
2. Monadic testing
3. Sequential monadic testing
4. Proto-monadic testing

1. Comparison Testing

In comparison testing, two or more concepts are presented to the respondents. The respondents compare these concepts by using rating or ranking questions or merely asking to select the best concept displayed.

Comparison tests give clear and easily understandable results. It’s easy to determine which concept is the winner. However, the results lack context. There is no way to tell why the respondents choose one concept over others. It is essential to understand these details before successfully launching a product.

2. Monadic Testing

The target audience is broken down into multiple groups in a monadic test. Each group gets shown only one concept. These tests focus on analyzing a single concept in-depth. A monadic test survey is usually short and highly targeted. 

Since each group of respondents sees a single concept, it is possible to go in-depth without making the survey lengthy. Researchers can ask follow-up questions about the various attributes of a concept, such as what they liked about the concept, it’s look and feel, price point, etc. Though each group of respondents sees different concepts in isolation, each concept’s follow-up questions will be the same.

Monadic test surveys are short and give researchers the flexibility to ask multiple follow-up questions. Thus the results provide more context around why a specific concept is better than others. However, since the target audience is split into multiple groups, the sample size required to conduct a monadic test is extensive. Since various concepts need testing, more significant is the sample size. The increase in sample size considerably increases the cost of research.

3. Sequential Monadic Testing

Like the monadic test, in sequential monadic tests, the target audience is split into multiple groups. However, instead of showing one concept in isolation, each group is presented with all the concepts. The order of the concepts is randomized to avoid research bias. The respondents are asked the same set of follow-up questions for each concept to get further insights.

Since each group of respondents sees all concepts, the target audience size required to perform a sequential monadic test is relatively small. Multiple concepts can be tested in a single round. Thus sequential monadic tests are more cost-effective and easy to field. This concept testing method makes it ideal for research with budget constraints or when only a small target audience is available. 

However, since all the concepts are presented to each group of respondents, the questionnaire’s length is fairly long. This affects the completion rate and might introduce non-response bias. Researchers can reduce the length of the questionnaire by limiting the number of questions. However, this affects the depth of the collected insights. 

Sequential monadic tests are also subject to other biases, such as interaction bias or order bias. 

4. Protomonadic Testing

A protomonadic test includes a sequential monadic test followed by a comparison test. Here, respondents first evaluate multiple concepts and then ask to choose the concept they prefer.

This design is useful to validate the results from the sequential monadic test. Researchers can verify if the concept selected in the comparison test is compatible with the insights collected about each idea.

This article explains how to choose the best-suited concept testing method for research.

Once you have finalized the method you will be using; you must design a  survey for conducting your test. Creating a survey and then effectively using a block randomizer offers the best results. The following section will discuss the guidelines and best practices for creating an effective concept testing survey.

Concept Testing Survey Design

Concept testing is achieved by using an online survey. The survey needs to be designed to analyze respondents’ feelings about your concepts or ideas. The data collected using these surveys are then used to determine what customers prefer or reject your idea. Here are a few tips to help you design a helpful concept-testing survey.

1. Set an objective for your survey

Once you set an overall objective for your survey, it becomes easy to come up with questions that will collect pertinent insights about your concept. It helps to think about the actual motive of the test and the particular details that you want to learn from your customers. Thus you can design a survey with relevant questions and gather meaningful information about your customers’ viewpoints. 

2. Consistent survey design

It’s always a good practice to group related questions using survey blocks. Survey blocks help create a well-ordered flow for your surveys and make it easier for the respondents to answer them. Respondents can easily focus on one area of your concept without any distractions and provide accurate and insightful feedback. 

3. Likert scales 

Likert scales are rating scales with an odd-numbered series of answer choices, usually between five to seven. You can include Likert scale questions in your survey to ask the respondents to rate their opinion on a five- or seven-point scale from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Using Likert scale questions creates a consistent design for your survey, making it easier for respondents to answer. Moreover, it’s easier to analyze the data collected using Likert scales.

4. Include images

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” This idiom is true when you want respondents to provide feedback about a visual concept. Logo testing is a good example where it makes sense to use images instead of text. You can display different concepts of your logo design to your respondents and select the one they like best. This negates any bias and provides easily digestible results.  

5. Demographic questions

It’s essential to include demographic questions in your survey to ensure that the respondents are part of your target audience. You may receive negative feedback about your concept. However, it may not be a reflection on the idea itself. Rather the respondent may not be part of your customer base and isn’t interested in your product. It’s essential to have demographic survey questions to ensure your concept will be successful with your ideal customers.

Now that you know how to design a helpful concept testing survey, let’s look at some use cases where concept testing is applicable. 

Concept Testing Use Cases

Here are some of the most common use cases where concept testing can be applied:

Product development

Concept testing is widely used by companies to make decisions while developing new products. You can find out which features customers care about and which ones are to be given a miss. You can also get an idea of what pain points customers face with existing features. 

Using a usability testing survey and concept testing, you can gauge customers’ expectations, make adjustments, and launch your product successfully.

If you wish to save time, you can use one of our expertly designed survey templates for product concept testing. 

New homepage design

Redesigning the homepage for your website can be tricky. For most SaaS and eCommerce businesses, the homepage is the first touchpoint with potential customers. That’s why you must get everything right while redesigning your website. 

Using concept testing, you can present your designs to customers who will interact with them and get a clear idea of what they feel. Using these results, you can iron out flaws in the design and be ready for a perfect launch. 

You can use our website feedback software and the subsequent guidelines to design a survey to test your homepage.

Testing a new logo

Your logo is a vital part of your company’s brand. More often than not, it’s the first thing customers notice about your business. Therefore, while designing a new logo, it’s essential to know how customers might react to the new design and visually communicate your brand.

Concept testing is a great way to test different designs and develop a logo that resonates with your customers. 

Offers and pricing

Concept testing comes in handy when you plan to offer discounts for a new product or implement a new pricing structure altogether. It’s important to test your customers’ initial response and identify the features and perks that will excite them.

You can run a concept test on your upgrade pages or discount offers to gauge if your customers are interested.

You can use the monadic test design to conduct your pricing research.

Ad testing

It’s common practice to test website ads, banners, and images to identify the best possible combination. Concept testing can provide insights such as which ad grabs the most attention or results in most conversions. 

Since the feedback comes directly from consumers, you can trust its internal validity and plan your advertisement and marketing strategy accordingly.

This article will help you get started with ad testing.

Now that we have gone through the different use cases of concept testing, we will learn about some real companies that used concept testing to their advantage in the next section.  

Concept Testing Examples

Some good examples of concept testing are:

Tesla

Tesla launched its Model 3 in 2017 and made headlines worldwide. Tesla used a unique launch strategy by using concept testing to gain approval from customers and raise capital. 

The participants were presented with the Model 3 concept. Once they were familiar with the car’s different features and benefits, they could put down a deposit. This strategy was a huge success, and Tesla raised $400 million. 

Thus, using concept testing, Tesla gathered invaluable customer feedback and financial resources to go ahead with their launch. 

Lego

Lego always faced difficulties selling its products to the female demographic. Despite their best efforts, only 9% of their toys were purchased by young girls. Lego decided to invest heavily in conducting concept testing and market research over an extended period to change this. This research’s primary objective was to understand young girls’ play habits.

This research made them realize that girls preferred to build entire environments rather than stand-alone structures. Girls also focussed more on interior layouts and structure details. 

Using these insights, Lego decided to design a whole new line of products catered to the female demographic – Lego Friends. This series launched in 2012 and tripled the value of construction toys for girls from $300 million to $900 million in 2014.

Yamaha

Yamaha is one of the largest producers of musical instruments in the world. While designing their Yamaha Montage keyboard, the company faced difficulties deciding whether to use knobs or sliding faders. So they decided to do a concept testing survey with their customers to gauge their preferences. After collecting over 400 responses from musicians worldwide, they were ready to make their decision. What might have taken weeks to debate internally, was resolved within a day.

NASCAR

NASCAR decided to change the format of its most significant race in 2017. They wanted to collect feedback about viewer experience following the change. This project was critical since the revenue that NASCAR generates via advertising was directly influenced based on viewership. 

NASCAR engaged in a concept testing and research study with over 200 super fans to gauge their experience, thoughts, and response to the events and advertisements. This study helped NASCAR validate its new format. They also collected vital insights that enabled them to launch the new race format successfully. 

As you can see, from products to advertisements, it’s critical to marketing test your concepts with the target audience to understand what will work and what won’t before going ahead with the launch. The ability to understand the viewpoint of your customers is more vital than ever before. 

Using concept testing, you can enhance your product development and marketing strategies, reduce the time required to market and launch your product, and keep your customers happy.

Activities of Concept Generation

 What Is Concept Generation?

Product concept generation is a process that starts with a list of parameters set by the customer regarding his needs and specifications. Based on the requirements, concept generation helps to pinpoint a variety of possible solutions and ideas that answers those needs.

Many engineering companies tend to overlook this phase because it may seem like a waste of time. It’s easier to run away with the first idea and start the design process.

However, looking at the problem from different angles can result in concepts that you may not have come up without some deep thinking. Hence, it is a crucial part of the product development process.

Concept generation for product planning may be viewed as a similarly effective and forward-thinking mechanism as lean manufacturing is for production and concurrent engineering for the whole product development process. A systematic approach to the different sides of a product journey pays dividends at the end.

Steps for Creating Concepts

The conceptualisation phase itself is a step in the larger engineering process, which goes like this:

• Identifying customer needs
• Defining the problem and objectives
• Concept generation
• Drafting and analysis
• Detailed design and drawings
• Creating a prototype
• Testing
• Final delivery

Of course, the practical engineer in you probably says you usually lack the time and resources to touch half of those points. If your client is after a one-off machine, you probably do not have the money to create a full-scale prototype for rigorous testing.

This, however, does not mean that you should skip everything other than customer needs, engineering drawings and manufacturing. It only means that you are probably more restricted when it comes to trying out wholly new ideas because you cannot test if they actually work out as planned.

Even if you have to stay on the safer side, going through the concept process is of help when looking to provide the best possible solution to answer the need. So let’s take a look at what it entails.

Product concept generation steps are as follows:

• Understanding the problem
• Researching established solutions
• Brainstorming & ideation
• Assessing the ideas & solutions
• Picking the winner & start working on it

Step 1 – Understanding the Problem

The first step is the basis for all the next ones. Not managing to get this one right will render the whole development process futile.

Bear in mind that you are the engineer and the customer may not always know what kind of information is actually necessary. They may have a vision for a solution which ignores many important details.

Thus, you have to be really methodical at this stage. Visit the site (e.g. production facilities), ask about the project goals, who must benefit and how, what are the requirements for the design, etc.

All this contributes a great deal in the next steps. You will know what questions to ask yourself before putting anything to paper (or CAD).

Step 2 – Researching Established Solutions

Before getting to generating your own designs, expose yourself to the available information. Researching solutions for the same and similar problems is a great way to kickstart the product development process.

Google’s answers for “wood chopping machine”

Your best friend at this step is Google, for sure. You can also find other great sources like GrabCAD from our list of best sites for mechanical engineers. Look up everything and anything related to your problem.

There is a reason, however, why the customer is turning to you. Maybe he didn’t find what he was looking for, although it exists. Maybe he needs a customised solution. Maybe there is nothing available on the market that could satisfy the requirements.

Whatever the answer, there will be solutions similar enough. Exposing yourself to them is necessary before going on to the next stage.

Maybe your customer needs a solution for opening doors softly so the wind couldn’t blow it wide open with a bang. And nothing like that exists. Go on doing the research about mechanisms for closing doors softly. You may find a lot of inspiration if you do not limit yourself too narrowly.

That is also why seasoned engineers are so valuable. Even if they have not worked on a project with a similar scope, bringing in the experience from a variety of different projects will help immensely. Implementing an idea that answers a similar problem may need some adjusting, but it’s a good start.

Step 3 – Brainstorming and Ideation

Now we get to put the research phase behind us to move on to the creative side of the design process. As we outlined in our tips for engineers article, we always advise generating at least 3 solutions to choose from.

Of course, on your way to these options, you will come up with a lot more ideas. But the 3 that pass the initial judgment will go into more detail. This includes the use of manufacturing technology, an in-depth analysis of the most difficult sub-assemblies, etc. We’ll get to that in Step 4.

Techniques for Producing Concepts

Engineers are famous for their ability of critical thinking. We are also notorious for the ability to shoot down ideas that do not make sense from the start.

When looking to create a new concept for a product, the latter quality is not really useful. At least not in this stage. It is better to switch off the critical thinking part when looking to come up with a variety of ideas.

Although the ideas will include a lot of rubbish, even the worst ones may contribute to the final concept in one way or another. A single design element stemming from a horrible initial idea is still very valuable.

The most important part is to make sure your imagination can flow freely. It is a skill that requires development, for sure. A great resource for finding ways to develop that skill is Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko.

Here, we are going to outline the most common strategies to come up with some ideas.

Brainstorming

Let’s start with the most famous one of them all – brainstorming. This is a group exercise that is based on two premises – quantity breeds quality and deferring judgment.

The optimal size for a group is between 5-10 people and there should be a designated group leader. A session can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and there is one goal only – to come up with a lot of ideas. Of course, first you need to lay out the problem details you pinpointed in the first step.

Everyone will have to work together to continue developing each other’s ideas. A good practise to follow is answering an idea with “Yes, and…” rather than “Yes, but…”. This will set the tone for the whole process.

The group leader can change the subject once a single idea has been followed through and rapid progress wanes down.

An important aspect here is that the brainstorming session can, and maybe should, include people from outside the circle of design engineers. These people can bring in a fresh view without much of the restricting logic. Big companies often have this type of people on the team who will never make the next step with the project. Their goal is to contribute solely at this stage.

It is the product development team’s task to later assess these ideas and choose whether using them in the concept is realistic or not.

Reverse Brainstorming

This is a combination of brainstorming and a technique called reversing. Engineering questions tend to be something like “How can I solve this problem?” and “How could I make this work?”. Reversing means asking “How can I make this problem worse?” and “How could I break it?”.

This gives a whole new perspective which can lead to great results.

Once you have created a set of reverse questions, you can start solving them. If your brainstorming buddies come up with ingenious ideas for breaking things, they may stumble upon something that is also actually useful for preventing this from happening.

You do not have to limit yourself to asking questions only, though. Statements about the “common understanding” work just as well.

One of the more famous examples from the Thinkertoys book is attributed to Alfred Sloan who reversed the idea that a person must first buy a car before he can drive it. The reversal meant that you can buy it while driving the car, hence coming up with the idea for instalment buying.

Mind Maps

Mind mapping is a great tool for someone who likes organised thinking. Someone like… an engineer.

You can take your main problem as the central word and write it down on paper. Then you just start writing down everything that relates to this word. And do the same, in turn, for those newly written-down words.

At last, you end up with a mind map with a lot of branches.

When creating a new product for your client, you can also start with the central word just being “the product” and add the requirements as the first branches – safety, ease of use, quickness, etc. When you add terms that relate to these qualities, you may well come up with a concept that covers all the necessary functions.

Just beware of the possibility of creating a feature shock. A single item does not always have to resolve all the issues in the world if it makes using it more complicated. Or results in a hideous design.

6-3-5 Method

Another team effort that requires 6 people. Each writes down 3 ideas over a 5-minute period. Now you know what the numbers stand for.

First, each individual writes down 3 ideas for a solution. Again, the problem has to be clearly defined from the start.

Next, they pass their paper along to the person sitting next to them. He can then further develop these ideas or add new ones based on the ideas he sees. Seeing another person’s perspective can be a strong ignitor of a wholly new concept.

The same process will be done until each person gets their original paper back after a full circle. And now you have 108 ideas in total. Yes, some of them are very raw and partial. But you just spent less than an hour (including setting up the meeting and explaining what is going to happen) to generate a wide range of concepts for your product.

Lateral Thinking vs Vertical Thinking

Lateral thinking is definitely one of the most important elements of product design concept generation. Although we have already addressed it in principle, it will not hurt to lay it out.

Lateral thinking refers to a broad search for a large number of possibilities and ideas. The aim is to avoid going in-depth with any of this or even pass judgment. Sure, passing the opportunity to make a joke about your colleague’s lack of intelligence may be tough to resist, but do your best.

Vertical thinking is the opposite, whereby you analyse one solution in-depth for its pros and cons. As this is part of an engineer’s nature, resisting the temptation needs some discipline and willpower.

But if you succeed at that, you will get the opportunity to do just that in the next stage.

Step 4 – Assessing the Ideas and Solutions

Now you have a wide range of different proposals on the table. Sure, most of them cannot solve your problem. But out of the plethora of ideas, there must be some good ones. How to sift through them all?

Now is the time to bring logic back into action. A sigh of relief – finally!

First, go over the ideas and choose a few that look like great candidates – 3 to 5 concepts would be great.

Secondly, do some sketching for the select few. Besides being just illustrations, sketching can bring out the pros and cons of many of these ideas. Also, turn your attention to the more difficult aspects of each concept and try to come up with the general idea of how to solve them. This will help to assess many of the crucial points here.

Next, build up an assessment form or scoring matrix. It can include everything that is necessary for this project. Every idea gets a rating which is weighed. The scoring points can include manufacturing cost, manufacturability, time to design, efficiency, durability, aesthetics, etc.

Maybe cost is the most important aspect, so give it a weight of 1 while aesthetics is a nice-to-have and comes with a weight of 0.25. After scoring each aspect in the same scale (e.g. 10 points max), you get your winning concept.

Step 5 – Pick the Winner and Start Working on It

So here you have it – the winning concept. Now it’s time to start the process of product development. Next comes specific design selection. There, you can also make use of powerful CAD software features like generative design to aid in the process of creating highly optimised designs.

During that phase, you should also know the material or at least the material class because it determines the thicknesses and overall geometry of the part. Last but not least comes the making of production drawings. Unless you can manufacture your parts straight from 3D files.

Engineering is all about problem solving. The customer has a need for something and he turned to you to get it solved. Doing your best entails putting it all out on at every stage of the process.

Sure, time restrictions can breathe down your neck but the initial phase for finding ideas does not take that long actually. Finding the right one, though, will help to dramatically diminish the time spent in the next phases as well as overall costs.

And if you really are in a hurry, remember that generating two ideas is still better than one.

Process of Identifying Customer Needs

The importance of identifying customer Needs

Identifying customer needs is mission-critical for businesses looking to create a product that truly speaks to their customers’ problems. Not to mention, the easiest way to position your brand smartly in the market is to unite your internal teams behind the specific needs of your customers.

Do you feel the number of repeat buyers is low? To turn that around and grow your business, you need to learn what your customers value most. In other words, discover what makes the loyal customers loyal. Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that don’t focus on customers.

While your business provides a solution to a need or problem, think about a typical customer’s needs from an emotional perspective. Grow your business by better understanding the audience.

4 key elements to include in a customer-first strategy:

1. Identify what the customers want

66% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. The best way to identify their needs is to take an organized approach. Some refer to this as a customer needs analysis, which provides you with valuable insights about your target audience. Common methods for discovering what customers want include focus groups, social listening, and keyword research.

2. Distribute feedback throughout your organization

Once you’ve collected data, build insights about your customers and share findings about them with your teams. Use those insights to identify opportunities for improving your products or services—and/or improving the way you describe them on your website—that make the conversion path as easy as possible.

Conducting this type of research effort and sharing results regularly with your team will lead to more proactive, strategic, and data-oriented marketing efforts, hopefully replacing more reactive ones.

3. Create product/service features based on customer feedback

Suggestions and feedback from customers can make your products and services even better than they already are, creating loyal customers who refer their friends to your brand.

Take Groove, for example. Groove is a SaaS help desk product that had an onboarding problem in the early going. Too many people churned after signing up for a free trial because the process was confusing.

The team applied customer feedback to their onboarding process. In their first onboarding email, customers were asked a simple question: “Why did you sign up for Groove?”

The email’s response rate improved by more than 300%, and the feedback from customers helped Groove uncover features that customers wanted.

4. Collect further customer feedback on changes you’ve made based

Want to turn customers into advocates for your brand? After you’ve made improvements based on customer feedback, it’s time to return to the first step to collect further feedback on the changes you just rolled out. The customer knows best—there could be more areas for improvement or a feature that didn’t quite hit the mark. Continue meeting their needs so they feel valued.

What are customer needs?

Customer needs are the named and unnamed needs your customer has when they come in contact with your business, your competitors, or when they search for the solutions you provide.

What motivates someone to buy? Customer needs are also the features, benefits, and other intricacies that you provide. These needs often determine if the customer will buy.

Examples of customer needs for products:

• Price
• Functionality
• Design
• Experience

Examples of customer needs for services:

• Price
• Transparency
• Options
• Empathy

However, identifying the needs of your customers is easier said than done. In our experience, there are a couple of easy ways to gain insight into what your customers need from you.

How to identify customer needs

To identify the needs and wants of your customers, solicit feedback from your customers at every step of your process. You can identify customer needs in a number of ways including:

1. Conduct focus groups

A focus group is a research technique in which you interview a group of people who represent your target audience.

One of the best ways to identify and understand customer needs is to talk directly with your audience. The goal of a focus group is to foster an open dialogue with attendees—potential customers or targeted customer personas—to get a better understanding of how your customers may feel about your brand and the products or services you provide.

Can’t get people in a room together for a focus group? Try sending online surveys to collect feedback, creating online communities like Facebook and LinkedIn groups, or leveraging chatbots.

2. Use social listening

Identify which social platforms your customers are most active on and study what they talk about. What do they enjoy? What are their pain points? What questions do they ask?

Social listening is a way to monitor conversations, keywords, and hashtags that can help you identify trends and opportunities. Listening can be as simple as searching for relevant topics, or you might use a more advanced tool like social listening software to respond to new opportunities as they happen in real time.

Being at the forefront of a trending topic, hashtag, or challenge is essential to getting in front of customers at the right time. Respond to followers in an authentic manner when anyone engages with you. A fast response also allows you to provide quality customer service and encourage further interaction. Start a conversation, and people will be more likely to feel their needs are being met when they know you’re listening.

3. Do keyword research

Keyword research provides valuable insight into the questions, problems, and solutions your target audience is searching for. This analysis should be the basis for meeting your customers’ needs, helping you strategize your approach to content. Target the right keywords with effective research, and you’ll be on your way to reaching the right people.

Driving organic traffic that exemplifies your ideal customer is achieved by optimizing your website and creating content for the keywords your customers are actively searching. Some of those people will be ready to convert.

Keyword research is one of the most important tactics for identifying the needs of searchers since it helps connect the right audience to your site.

Use it to go inside the mind of your customer. What are they searching for? Why are they searching for it? Know the answers, and then you can match your content to their needs. Strong keyword research gives you direction on how to optimize your website and put your brand in front of searchers.

Anticipating customer needs

The importance of anticipating and understanding customer needs can’t be overstated. When you anticipate what your customers need from you, you can create content or expand your product features or services to meet those needs early. The earlier you meet them, the better chance you have of connecting with them before your competitors have the opportunity to.

Customers don’t part ways with brands that meet their every need. By anticipating customer needs, you can ensure that your product lines up with their expectations before they even have to ask for a new feature, service, or solution from you.

Searching based on needs

Think about how you would function as a consumer. When you have a question about a product you’re using, is your first step to call the company and ask? Or is your first step to open Google and search for the answer to your question? Most likely, it’s the latter.

That means the secret needs of your customers actually reside in how they search for your product, your company, or your services online. For this reason, keyword research will give you the earliest and most honest insight into the needs of your customers. Use it to learn directly from them. Use the voice of the customer to connect with your audience and improve their experience with you.

If you sell dishwashers, keyword research based on customer needs may lead you to phrases such as:

• Can a dishwasher run on cold water
• Dishwasher troubleshooting
• What dishwasher detergent is best for septic systems
• What is not allowed in a dishwasher
• Why dishwasher doesn’t dry

The buyer’s journey

The buyer’s journey will help you choose the keywords necessary for meeting customer needs.

The way a keyword is structured can often tell you where the searcher is in the buyer’s journey. For example, a phrase like “how to wash dishes” usually indicates the searcher is in the early stages of the buyer’s journey. They’re not necessarily looking for dishware or dish soap. They’re looking for helpful information and may not be ready to make a purchase yet.

However, “how to wash dishes” might also be a post-purchase decision if a user has purchased a dishwasher and is now looking for support on using the machine. This may then encourage you to create support content or include additional information on your product page about how to use the device. So it’s important to look at a range of results that users click on for queries you care about to determine each opportunity to reach consumers across journey stages.

A keyword like “best dishwasher with delayed start controls,” on the other hand, clearly indicates the searcher is looking for a particular type of dishwasher. They could be ready to buy.

Knowing search intent helps you understand the needs of customers. When choosing keywords to optimize your website, look for clues that could tell you what stage of the buyer’s journey the searcher might be in.

Meeting customer needs

Meeting customer needs is crucial for any business looking to retain and attract new customers. Because, as important as the discovery phase is, knowledge about what your customer needs from you is only as good as the way you use it. So, how do you meet customer needs?

This is where the going gets tough. Once you have knowledge and data about what your customer needs from you, the next step is integrating that knowledge into already existing processes. Often this can mean revamping an entire marketing campaign. You may even need to plan, build, and execute on a brand-new facet of your product. Each business will have to approach this step differently, but we’ve created a framework for how you can identify, understand, and meet customer needs.

How to meet the needs of customers

You can follow the this four-step customer needs analysis—part of the customer-first strategy mentioned earlier—to establish and meet the needs of customers:

• Identify what your customers need from you through keyword research, focus groups, or social listening.
• Distribute the information to relevant stakeholders in your organization.
• Craft product features or create content that speaks to your customer’s needs.
• Collect customer feedback on how your efforts meet their expectations.

Identifying and Meeting Customer Needs

After you’ve completed this customer needs analysis and identified what your customer needs from you, take the data you’ve collected seriously. If customers (or potential customers) are asking for something, big or small, make sure you deliver. Businesses that have a developed methodology for how they collect and share customer insights within their organization will have the best luck with meeting customer needs quickly.

That could mean assigning a dedicated team to collect customer insights. Other businesses may be able to roll it into the responsibilities of existing departments. If you develop a strong system for how you discover, analyze and address customer needs, your organization will be set up for long-term success. So, take the time and put in the legwork.

Why is it important to meet customer needs?

All of today’s most successful businesses take steps to meet customer needs early and often. For the modern marketer, taking strides to make sure your customers’ needs are met will help you align with other internal teams at your organization, like your sales team, customer support team, and your product team. With your whole organization operating under a cyclical process of anticipating, identifying, and meeting customer needs, you’ll see results in no time.