Oh what a difference a day makes when it comes to technology. Keeping up with consumers today for consumer goods companies means not only is there an increasing demand for personalized products, but also for new ways to reach out to consumers about them. At the same time, though, consumers will be loyal if something is working for them.
Take Kraft Foods’ iFood Assistant, a mobile iPad app with recipes and related content for convenient access to food ideas at home, work, or in the store. You can read the whole article in the link, but 60% of people who downloaded the second version of the app were still using it six months later. The food giant even asked users their opinions to help modify it for the 3.0 version.
For a new product, the same rationale can be applied. A cosmetics company’s website, for example, can offer personalized foundations designed by the customer. As a bonus, this serves as an ongoing focus group that allows the manufacturer to capitalize on trends. There has been a definite shift away from someone coming up with a new idea, say adding aloe to a product, and then determining if the market likes it. Now the consumer is driving the new ideas by saying, “I want aloe,” so you can start talking about it in your core product line—and and edge out your competitor.
It’s like I always say, true personalized product innovation is all about building products to meet the needs of your customers—not the old school way of building products and hoping your customers will buy them.
With technology now more than ever, it’s critical to stay relevant, and what better way to do that then to listen to the source.
