How Business Can Get Ahead By Leveraging User-driven Innovation
The world is changing at a lightning pace, and it can be a challenge to keep up to date on what consumers want and need. Savvy businesses know that today's customers are more demanding than ever. When every piece of advertising and content is curated to their individual tastes, people know what they want and will not settle for anything less.
To stay on top of the ever-changing trends, many companies have started to turn to customer-led growth and user-driven innovation. This process doubles as a great way to get personal with your customers, which is proven to increase brand loyalty.
User-driven innovation is a process where businesses let their customers take the lead in developing new products and services. This approach has many advantages for businesses, as it can help them to develop a better understanding of their customer's needs and wants, while also giving them a way to tap into new markets.
But what exactly is user-driven innovation, and how can you use it to bring your business to the next generation of consumers? That’s what we’re here to find out.
What is User Driven Innovation?
For decades the process of innovation has been difficult, but straightforward. If you wanted to research and develop a new product, you would come up with ideas in-house and then conduct focus groups to determine their market potential. Modern companies find that this process no longer reflects customers’ desires.
Thankfully, it’s now easier than ever to connect directly to consumers at all stages of product development. Through social media and other means, companies can have their ear to the ground from concept to execution, receiving feedback and ideas from their future customers.
Why Is User-Driven Innovation so Important?
Consumers are always on the lookout for the next big thing. Even if innovation isn’t completely changing the sphere of influence that your company is a part of, it is necessary to keep customers focused on your brand instead of scrolling to the next one.
Research shows that companies utilizing user-driven innovation are nearly four times as likely to have product innovations. Not only does including your customer base in the research and development process speed up your results, but it will ensure that you are moving in the direction they actually want.
This customer-centric approach puts their experience at the forefront of your business decisions. It can be used in all aspects of business, from marketing campaigns to product design and everything in between.
Including customers in the innovation process has several benefits. It can help businesses to:
Reduce development costs
Improve customer satisfaction
Increase market share
Generate new ideas
Build brand loyalty
The sooner you start implementing this form of innovation, the sooner you’ll have a leg up on the competition.
How can you start implementing User Driven Innovation into your business strategy?
Bringing user-driven innovation into your workflow will look different for every business. Maybe you know your customer base is active on Instagram, or more likely to respond to an email campaign. Maybe it’s easier for you to connect with them in person at events and conventions.
Whatever customer connection looks like for you, make sure you’re finding the right people to talk to. The last thing you want to do is make major decisions based solely on the input of a small but particularly vocal subset of your customer base.
Make sure you’re aware of what customers drive most of your revenue. Ask what these people are buying and how they come to that decision. Are they mainly online shoppers or do they come into stores to make their final decisions? Finally, you’ll want to determine if this group is a good representation of your overall market.
This is where consumer data is extremely helpful. The more you know about people, the more you’ll know what kinds of innovations will excite them. However, be careful not to fall into the trap of breaching your customers’ privacy. Smart and ethical businesses can transparently gather the information that will help their cause.
Once you know how you’re getting information and who you’re getting it from, it’s time to start innovating. Here are the steps that should be involved in any user-driven process.
Inception
A company’s research and development team should always have their ear to the ground, scoping out any market needs. This research will be the thing that sparks the impulse and idea for your next innovation.
Once you have an idea, you should get it in front of your customer base. Let them know that you’re looking for input and want to hear about what’s important to them.
Discussion
This is the most vital part of any user-driven innovation. Customers will flag things they like and dislike about the proposed idea, and give you an overview of how the product will perform in the market.
If this process is happening over social media, be aware that not everyone will be helpful. Opening up your ideas to scrutiny will always attract negativity. Decide how you want to handle this before starting the conversation online.
Modification
As consumers bring up thoughts and concerns about your product, take what they say into consideration. Your ideas can be modified to better fit the needs of the customers. This way, the burden of innovation will not be completely placed on employees, and you can be sure that the changes you make are what customers truly want. This will also get customers excited about new products and innovations because they feel that they were in on the ground floor of the creation process.
Implementation
Now that you’ve collected all these responses and data, you need to ensure that it is communicated in a useful way. You can not make the ideas come to fruition unless they are easily accessible by every member of your team. A brainstorming tool like Stormboard allows information to be updated in real-time, so there won’t be a single bit of innovation left behind.
In Conclusion
In the same way that technology has affected every aspect of our lives, it will have an impact on the way companies conduct their research and development. If you want to stay one step ahead of the competition, user-driven innovation is an excellent tool to add to your toolbox.
Make sure you are just as methodical as ever, but if you are intentional about who you ask and how, and have a great way to organize the data you get, there’s no telling how far your customers can take you.
Lead by example
Connect with us on social media or reach out directly if you want to see your ideas come to life in Stormboard’s roadmap!
Let us help kick-start your user-driven innovation model
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About the author:
A programmer by trade, Nick Saraev is a freelance writer and entrepreneur with a penchant for helping people excel in their careers. He's been featured on Popular Mechanics & Apple News, and has founded several successful companies in e-commerce, marketing, and artificial intelligence. When he's not working on his latest project, you can find him hiking or painting.
