👋 Hi! Welcome to the Proof Studio newsletter.
Nothing grows revenue like actually knowing your customer.
Every week, I send you tactical advice on figuring out what your customers actually want, so you can build it and sell more of it.
Most founders are diligent about validating their ideas with customers in the beginning. Then they delegate away all of the front-facing work, never to have a deep conversation with a customer again.
They confidently think, “we already know our customer,” which introduces a dangerous amount of risk.
Risk?? Yes, operating on stale information in a rapidly-changing category is probably the ultimate risk! It means your whole team is designing, building, and selling on old lore about the customer you built for from 0-1, while your customers that take you into real growth are either behaving differently (or literally completely different people).
That’s how you flop like this, completely misaligned with your customer’s priorities:
courtesy of reddit
So why might your original bank of customer learning go stale?
1. Customers have their own story arc. They evolve, too
The customer you won at acquisition behaves differently two years later. Even if you’ve retained them, they probably have new goals and habits (and new competitors vying for their attention).
Case in point, I’ve been a loyal Nutrafol subscriber for 6 years. This hair supplement works for me, but I’ve changed a lot in that time. If I ever find a brand that can better evolve with me, I’d switch.
My hair goals have cycled, from stopping fallout, to encouraging growth, to keeping it hydrated during the driest LA summers
My health isn’t static either. Stress, sleep, and ferritin levels are dynamic and my hair feels all of it
My environment (which affects hair and scalp) has changed a ton, having moved around between super dry and super humid cities
2. You have more than your 1 original ICP
Typically, innovative consumer businesses have an early adopter who is also super innovative. These early adopters might behave a lot like the founder and not need much market education.
However, your majority adopters (aka the bulk of your growth-stage revenue) have their own set of traits and behaviors.
I used to work with a large client in the hydration space who really wanted to be the cool brand. They primarily ran ads to the LA and NYC geos, when my analysis of their onsite reviews showed that trade workers in Texas (HVAC, plumbing, construction) were by far their most passionate evangelists. (Thus, my Middle America thesis was born - we’ll save that for another day)
image credit: Jurgen Appelo
None of this is hidden. Your customers will tell you who they are and what they want, if you go look.
When you get back in sync with your audience, you can:
Build a killer product roadmap that people are hyped for
Craft high-conversion storylines for campaigns
Support customers in a way that is unmistakably you
Don’t let your most critical info go stale. Go re-check your customer lore.
3 things you can do right now:
Run a big analysis of customer reviews on your site and figure out your biggest opportunity to surprise and delight
Have a real chat with loyal customers (about their lives, not your product) (and send them a thank-you gift)
Organize a Voice of Customer meeting with your Marketing and CX leaders -exchange notes about trends and common inquiries
This is the best kind of work! Have fun.
Lorel
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My company, Proof Studio, runs 1:1 customer interviews for scaling consumer brands that need help building confidence in Product and GTM bets. If you know that you need to get closer to your customers, book a call with me here.