Nov. 2, 2021
Read time: 2 minutes and 41 seconds.
tags:People often struggle to articulate their needs. Learn how asking the right questions and understanding core problems leads to unreal product development.
We often think customers know exactly what they want.
They really don’t…
The truth is, people are terrible at articulating their needs and even worse at solving their own problems. The best products come from deeply understanding the real problem, not just the surface-level complaint. Getting to the root of the problem is the key element of successful products vs. boom and bust types of solutions/fads.
People know they have a problem, but not how to fix it. What often comes up is that they know they’re suffering through something and often settle for the status quo.
…people don’t actually know what they want and they don’t know how to solve their own problems. In several bodies of research and articles of investigation, you see this repeat theme of people not knowing what they want:
This isn’t a moral post, but one about how you can’t rely on what people say they want and instead you appeal to what they’re actively trying to achieve. From there, you test and see what solutions people are willing to pay for.
If you’re a product developer, it’s your job to discover and figure out what it is that people want and really seek to solve. Especially if you get requests, don’t just take them at face value. You have to dig deeper to understand what it is that people are looking for.
It might seem annoying, but probing questions are one of the simplest ways of getting to the root of understanding the purpose of certain actions or why people tolerate a problem time and time again. Asking why over and over again is part of the job so that you can get a profound understanding of what’s happening with the user (and potential customer).
Let’s take a real-life, but dated example
Problem = “Can’t find movies to rent.”
This approach uncovers the real need. If you don’t go through the process of digging deeper, you’ll throw the first solution that seems viable… and it will remain untouched.
Here are some real-life pivots that made businesses move from okay to incredible quickly:
These are examples of companies that knew they could extend their reach extensively by getting to the root of their users’ core issues instead of being satisfied with functionally profitable.
Great products don’t just add features; they solve fundamental problems in simple, elegant ways. It’s up to everyone that want to get into product to ask the right questions, understand the underlying needs, and be willing to pivot. Go make something awesome by talking to your prospective users about their problems… not your proposed solutions.
Shut up and listen.