Here’s Why You'll Hate the Apple Watch (and the Important Business Lesson You Need to Know) If you are among the 19 million people Apple predicts will buy an Apple Watch, I have some bad news for you — I’m betting there is an important feature missing from the watch that’s going to drive you nuts. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy one. In fact, I’m ordering one myself. However, this paradox illustrates an important lesson for the way companies design their products. Rarely are v.1 products very good. Meet Mr. To find out why you’ll likely be disappointed by the Apple Watch, meet Professor Noriaki Kano.
Kano believes products have particular attributes, which are directly responsible for users’ happiness. A delightful feature is an attribute of a product that customers love but do not expect. A linear feature, on the other hand, is one users expect. Customers are typically able to articulate the linear attributes of a product – “I want it to have long battery life” – whereas by definition they can’t tell they want a delightful feature until they’ve seen it in action. Dr. Understanding Customer Acquisition Costs — Growth Hacking, Marketing and Venture Capital. An area I have wrestled with as a VC over the last five years is how to really understand the unit economics of businesses. The basic concept of LTV>CPA (lifetime value greater than cost to acquire) is pretty simple.
The complexity comes when you try to work out what will happen to these economics as the business scales. I’m not going to get into lifetime value calculations here, as it is well covered elsewhere e.g. by Bill Gurley here. Where I’d like to focus is on CPA. Often as a VC you are presented with a headline CPA figure and nothing more. Clozer. Building the Machine. Building the machine involves the following steps: Identify your buyersDiagram their buying processesAdd to this diagram the steps you will take to address their buying processDiagram the Actions you will take to move prospects through the processExamine the linkages between Actions to make sure the next steps are obviousDefine the qualification criteriaExamine the customer motivations for each ActionDefine the organizational resources responsible for each stepDefine the technology/software that you will use to automate the process 1.
Identify your buyers Start with an intense study of the Customer If you are like most of the people that I talk to, you already have a sales process, and can show a diagram of the different steps. However most of the time when I work with people to diagnose what is not working as well as they hoped, the problems arise because they have not found a good way to motivate their customer to move forward through a particular step. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. How To Sell Nonstrategic Products (Hint: Forget About Price) If you’re selling “a nice to have” rather than a “need to have” product, you might have convinced yourself there are only two ways to compete: on price or features. Turns out, that’s not the case. According to recent research it doesn’t work because your customers aren’t looking for a cheaper product or one full of more bells and whistles.
If their basic needs are being met and the cost isn’t too outrageous, they’re on the hunt for “something more” to turn their hesitation into a purchase. During a three-year study of 46 companies, lead author professor James C. Anderson of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his colleagues James A. An element of the product or service that provides a clear-cut value that stands above the competition is the justifier that gains an edge. This is important, the professors contend, because it helps make purchasing managers look good to their own top brass. How can sales people shift into this mindset and provide justifiers?
1. 2. 3. This Woman Has Landed Millions of App Installs — How She Does It. 18 Resources to Help You Become Amazing at Acquiring New Customers. An effective user acquisition strategy is the holy grail for many marketers, whether it be a mix of channels that generate a constant flow of new users at a sustainable cost or a clever tactic that gives a new product a boost in users in a short period of time.
If you’re looking for ideas for your product launch strategy or need some inspiration as you test new user acquisition channels, this post will make things a lot easier for you. I’ve compiled the best resources from across the web on user acquisition into one place so that you don’t have to spend hours digging through content. Now start reading! Stories From The Trenches: How Successful Startups Acquired Users & Customers 1. Mint, the darling of personal finance apps, launched in September 2007 and quickly experienced exponential growth.
How did they do it? This post offers a detailed breakdown of the growth strategy that catapulted Mint to success. 2. I’ve probably read this article at least 10 times. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Leonardo DiCaprio Sells You His Pen | Victoria Pynchon. If SaaS Products Sell Themselves, Why Do We Need Sales?