Make your product irresistible!
Some products are magnet-like: you feel attracted and can’t resist. It feels they fulfill you deeply… because they do!
The holy grail for entrepreneurs is finding product-market fit, where the product delivers perfectly for its core users. Many entrepreneurs build prototypes with a CVP (customer value proposition) in mind. But usually that CVP is focused on functional benefits (faster, cheaper, better, stronger, etc) rather than emotional benefit (how it makes your customers feel). To be successful, your product -and your brand- needs to deliver on BOTH levels.
The basis for emotional benefits is delivering against human needs. Maslow’s pyramid is very famous (although often misunderstood), but there are several other modern classifications of human needs.
We won’t go through the needs in detail, as our interest lies more in how they can be leveraged to make your offering irresitible.
Personally, I quite like Tony Robbins’ version of 6 human needs. He does a great job explaining how these needs drive every decision we make, consciously and unconsciously.
1. Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure
2. Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli
3. Significance: feeling unique, important, special or needed
4. Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something
5. Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding
6. Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others
Everyone is driven by these needs, but with different levels for each.
What’s the implication for your product / service? Well, at a bare minimum, you need to deliver against one of these needs, and chose your target market accordingly. But the real strength -the magnetic power- comes from meeting MORE than one need with your product.
Take games as an example: games at first look are for entertainment. However games are addictive not just because they are entertaining, but also giving a sense of accomplishment. They can also bring a sense of connection when multi-playing. In other words, they meet several of our needs at the same time and make us feel good (not just entertained!).
Examples of apps meeting the 6 needs:
1-Certainty: planning apps
2-Variety: news, trading / gambling apps
3-Significance: learning apps
4-Connection: meditation, intimacy
5-Growth: learning apps, spirituality
6-Contribution: individual charity apps?
If you’re still working on your product, think about how to disrupt an existing category by meeting a different emotional need (whilst still delivering on the functional ones) or adding a second one, so you can differentiate yourself.
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