Think Like a Customer

Why?

Your thinking should always start and end with your customer. You may be in an organisation with paying and non paying 'customers'. So think about each viewpoint. Your priority might be the people who directly benefit, but ultimately there will be a paying customer in the chain, so think about them too.  When you understand the people you’re trying to reach from their perspective, you’ll come up with solutions they actually want and need. In most cases there is no ‘one size fits all’ customer profile so it helps to imagine the needs of a few typical customers.

How?

1. Build the customer character
Use the above template to build the customer character - if you are lucky to work in a frontline role you could reflect on a couple of customers that you know of to kick start your ideas around what they think/feel/say and do. Decide if this is a paying or non paying customer and don't get too hung up on definitions.

You should then consider what they might see and hear that influences them. Naming your customer character can help you tap into that empathetic perspective - the needs of real people sit at the heart of this exploration.

2. Pains and gains
Move on to consider the pains (what problems they are trying to solve) and gains (what better would look like to them) each customer could have. Consider how different this is between your customer characters either practically or in the way you imagine they would say it - this matters because it impacts on how you will connect your idea to their needs.

3. Potential solutions
Once you really know your audience, it’s time to zone in on those pains and think creatively about how you can improve their situation. The aim is to think differently – don’t restrict yourself at this stage. Keep your mind open, write every idea down, and don’t disregard even the craziest of thoughts.

Once you have done this it’s time to start building a Value Proposition Canvas.