A fact so simple is often forgotten, especially by entrepreneurs who are in the process of building a product which they expect millions/billions of people to use.
It is a great time to be living in India — the young of my country are taking the risk to follow their hearts, to built and work for their dreams. So many in my circles have such amazing ideas and it warms my being to see them have the courage to act on those same ideas. Therefore, being the good Samaritan that I am, I usually take the first little step, that leap of faith and become one of their very first customers.
Most of the start-ups in my circles are very considerate of their new customers, they really value genuine customer feedback, they are always around to answer any product related queries and are open to honest criticism, suggestions and new complimentary/ supplementary ideas.
These kind of companies have knowingly or unknowingly answered the apparent fundamental question — why should the customers come back to you?Investing time and resources in acquiring one happy customer is the best karma you could earn for yourself. Human beings when they feel good are capable of doing amazing things and a happy customer is a valuable/profitable asset.
And to acquire such assets in your initial days adds a lot to your motivation to continue your work. It also goes a long way into delicately/meticulously framing your brand’s image.
Back when I was at Zophop, we went through a customer-crises. It quite trying and little did I know that it would became my answer to HR questions — tell me of a crisis you managed, how do you work under pressure, give an example of your creativity ??
Anyway back in 2015 when this customer crisis occurred, we spent days and nights answering people’s queries, meeting their demands and delivering on our quoted promises. Some of our team members, including me, broke down during the ordeal while dealing with angry users. Nevertheless I really felt proud of how frantic each one of us was to set things right. That spirit itself helped us welcome new happy customers to over 100,000 Zophop family.
Do not disappoint your customers.
I know some people who are very intelligent, they have worked with big-name companies, they possess a formidable skill set — technical and otherwise but these people somehow fail to see that establishing good relations with your customers is the setting stone of any fresh endeavor.
A customer lost to carelessness and inattentiveness is not just a bad asset it is a rotting asset, it spoils the rest of the apples.
So,it seems rather trivial now to conclude that once you are done making your product, and if you think customer feedback is vital for your growth, then please please make sure you also built an active reaction-evaluation mechanism.
