A profitable SaaS company thought of making a revolutionary upgrade to their existing product. They invested millions of dollars into its development, by expanding product and engineering teams and opened up offices in posh locations. They spent close to 5 years in making the new product.
And what happened eventually? The new product bombed. That too badly. More than 95% sales kept coming from the previous version, even after one year of launch and continuous product improvements.
No one makes a product with the intention to fail. This company checked all the possible boxes including a modern design and globally placed team. The company even laid off a lot of staff they felt wasn’t up to the mark and recruited people at heavy salaries. The CEO was confident of reaching USD 100 million valuation within a year, and devised several features that none of the competition was doing. Yet, after one year, they could barely touch a million in sales.
Why did the product fail, then?
Simple reason: They didn’t consult a single existing customer when making the new iteration of their product.
Your existing customers are the greatest assets. It is 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer, as compared to winning the existing one. They’ve used your product for years and know the ins and outs. Solve their existing problems and they’ll not mind paying a little more for your product.
Therefore, if you want to make something that people want to buy, then talk to your existing customers. Listen to their problems. Hear the bad news if it’s there. Put yourself in their shoes and think of ways to make their life easier. If possible then spend some time at their office and observe how people use your product. You’ll gain insights like never before.
Yaju Arya Dot Com 