10 Simple Questions to Help Customers Love Your Product [Startup School]

Welcome back to Startup School!

It is imperative throughout the entire process of building a new business that you see your product through the eyes of your customer. When entrepreneurs see their product or service through their own eyes, they tend to overestimate many things.

First, they overestimate the enthusiasm the customer has for their product. They are also often overconfident regarding what the customer will gain from using their product and how easy it will be to use.

This is why we strongly suggest doing what is called a “Full Life Cycle Use Case” from the perspective of your customer. It should explain how your end user determines that their existing needs are not being met by existing products and how they would find out about your product. If you’ve already done the work of clearly outlining your end user then this exercise should be fairly simple. If you haven’t, go back and take a look at some of my previous strategies on how to define your end user.

With your customer in mind, consider the following questions:

1. How will your end user determine they have a need and/or opportunity to do something different?

2. How will they find out about your product?

3. How will they analyze your product?

4. How will they acquire your product?

5. How will they install/implement your product?

6. How will they use your product (in specific detail)?

7. How will they determine the value gained from your product?

8. How will they pay for your product?

9. How will they receive support for your product?

10. How will they buy more product and/or spread awareness about your product?

Your Full Life Cycle Use Case shouldn’t just be a list of answers to these questions. Use your answers to create a visual representation with diagrams, flowcharts, or other methods that show sequence.