How to Design Products That People Will Love

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Can you recall the moment when you first discovered your favorite artist? How about the first time you laid your hands on an iPhone? And have you ever wondered why you feel compelled to endlessly scroll through your Instagram or TikTok feed, consumed by the doomsday news cycle?

Remember how effortless it was to summon an Uber with just a tap of a button? All of these experiences share a common thread - exceptional design.

Creating a product that resonates with customers is an incredibly challenging task for product designers. However, with the right strategy and approach, it is possible to succeed. In this article, we will break down the essential steps you need to take to ensure that the product you are developing wins the hearts and minds of your audience.

Build Something People Need

Don’t just build shit for the sake of building something. Build something that serves purpose and solves a pain point for someone.

I always say a good rule of thumb is: If your solutions solves a problem for you personally, chances are there are others with similar problem.

The first step in creating a product that customers love is to identify their needs. Understanding customer needs requires research and analysis. You need to gather data and insights about their preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This information can be obtained through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

Define Your Product Vision

Once you identified the problem, articulate the solution. A product vision is a statement that defines the purpose and value of your product. It should describe the problem that your product solves and how it benefits your target customers.

Develop a Product Strategy

Outline your end goal and steps of achieving it. A product strategy is a roadmap that outlines how you will achieve your product vision. It should include the product's features, target market, pricing, and distribution strategy.

How I am going to build it, how will people find it and use it? Just answer that!

Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Creating an MVP is a crucial step towards building a successful product that resonates with your customers. An MVP is a simplified version of your product that includes only the essential features. By testing your MVP in the market and gathering feedback from your customers, you can gain invaluable insights that will inform your product development process.

Many people make the mistake of trying to build a complex, feature-rich product from the outset. While this may seem like a logical approach, it often leads to overwhelming your customers and confusing them. It can also exhaust your team, deplete your funds, and ultimately hinder your chances of success.

Instead, start with something small and focused. Your MVP should do one thing exceptionally well, and that is it. By testing and proving your MVP, you can gradually add new features, one at a time, and grow your customer base organically. This approach ensures that your customers are growing with you and that you are building a product that meets their needs and desires.

Test and Iterate

Don’t guess, ask! The best way to learn whether or not something will be embraced or discarded is simply asking. Don’t feel proud, superior or embarrassed to ask dumb questions. We do it daily and it has allowed us to build some amazing products that are loved by millions.

Testing and iterating are crucial steps in creating a product that customers love. Testing allows you to gather feedback from customers and identify areas for improvement. You can use this feedback to make changes to your product and iterate until you achieve the desired outcome.

Creating products that people love has to involve people that it is intended for. Don’t aim to build something that is bought by millions. Build something to win the hearts of a few, and let those few feel included. Those few will be the catalyst of your product growth.

Don’t believe?

Think back to the time you heard your favorite artist and a song? The moment that turned you from a listener to a die hard fan…What did you do? You related to it, you love it but then…you most likely shared it with everyone. That is exactly what you want to achieve with your product.