Why You Are Not the Customer: A Simple Reminder
This is a post from my old blog, which you can find here.
Now, I know that you’re really smart, so I’m going to say this upfront, this is nothing new. Just a simple reminder. If you’re heading to work today and about to make a business decision, say this with me: “I am NOT the consumer”.
Yes, you are not. Basic, marketing 101 concept. But you wouldn’t believe, over years (ha! “years”..) of experience, how many times I’ve heard these words came out of an executive or a colleague: “Well, if I’m the consumer, I will (will not) buy that..)”. Well, guess what, unless you are the exact target audience for your product/service (and if you’re catering to the consumer space.. 99% of the time, you’re probably not), you are not the customer.
It’s remarkable how people forget about this during meetings. I think it’s human nature to empathize with yourself at all times, meaning you tell yourself “If it was me….” too many times. Yes, people are egotistical. Nothing wrong with that, again, it’s human nature.
Take me as an example, working in the consumer technology space, as a gadget user, it is so easy for me to relate to all the products that my company makes and what the competitors are making.
But, take a closer look at my “consumer behavior” in news consumption:
First thing in the morning, I’ll check news on my BlackBerry Twitter application & NYTimes widget. Then as I’m making breakfast, using my Windows 7 personal laptop, I would use iTunes to listen to the latest podcast from BBC or WSJ. I subscribe to the print version of the Economist magazine, even though I can easily access it through my iPad or my Kindle (I have both). Driving to work, I will use my iPhone (that serves as an iPod), to listen to either more news podcast or some music.
That’s just my morning.
Am I a power user? Maybe. But for which device? I spread out my usage throughout the day. I don’t even touch my iPad sometimes (I haven’t in the last two weeks).
Am I an early adopter (ooh, tech marketers love this one)? Not really. I didn’t really rush out the door to get all of my gadgets.
Am I a loyal customer? Um, check out the different brands that I use.
So, what am I?
How do you categorize yourself into just one bucket or one customer persona?
Well, you don’t. So, don’t make a decision based on yourself, or at least I shouldn’t.
But what if your actual behavior truly mimics a typical customer persona? Well, then your judgment will be very biased towards that group and you’ll even have stronger conviction that you’re making the right decision.
People tend to hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. If you are an Apple fanboy and is a heavy-user of the iPad, you’ll start searching for news on the iPad. You’ll probably troll the Engadget blog and start commenting for every single iPad news. Then you get all excited to hear that Apple’s share of the tablet market is 87.4% worldwide and they shipped 4.7 million tablets last quarter. Then you start to think that “Wow, the world is shifting. I don’t even use my laptop anymore, I only use my tablet. This is the biggest thing that happened to the world since rice cookers”. So, you go to work and decided that your brand needs to have its own iPad app.
Well, to put things into perspective, Microsoft sold 300 million of Windows 7 licenses and I’m pretty sure that they’re running on plain ol’ laptops or (God forbids) desktops *gasp* (do they still make those?). Not tablets. Is that iPad app still going to be relevant for your customers? Maybe, but do your homework. Don’t get trapped into believing that you’re an average jane/joe. 99% of the time, you’re probably not.