In brief …
- Use data as a source of and a check on product ideas.
- A customer data platform is a great tool for this.
- Don’t confuse what people like with what they’re willing to pay for.
- Look for ways to turn customer interactions into data.
Editors’ opinions are great, and the idea from the CEO’s lover is … an idea. But there are other ways to get new product suggestions. I like the ones that come from data. Use data as a source for ideas, and to verify or discredit hunches.
Analytics can give a hint. Let’s say you noticed that lots of people viewed your article on stomach cancer, but were those visitors drive-bys or were they customers? Are they the sort of people who would be willing to pay? As my friend Chris Moffa says, “there’s all the difference in the world between someone who will spend a dollar and someone who won’t.”
I have to remind myself from time to time that I have a bias against exclusively ad-supported products. My inclination is to qualify “lots of traffic” with “yes, but will they pay?” But that’s not always necessary. Ad revenue is also revenue.
A customer data platform can help where analytics fails. You can divide your traffic between what your customers read and what the hoi polloi read. Segment analysis can reveal trends that you can test.
Mine customer comments. You can listen in on calls, or you can read CSR summaries, but better yet, find a way to turn customer interactions into data. E.g., 10 percent of our audience is asking about tablets.
Social media. If your market is disgruntled baboons, get product ideas from Twitter. But seriously, remember the free vs. paid issue. Social media trends might give good ideas for ad-supported articles, but be cautious before you convert that to a paid concept.
Q&A sessions at events provide good qualitative feedback, but you need to quantify what you hear with further research. This reminds me of the IIEX conference I attended in Austin this year. It was all about market research, and I found myself wondering why, if it works for people who sell consumer goods, publishers don’t do more of it.
Finally, data can tell you if customers are using your service the way you thought they would. If they’re not, that might open new possibilities.
If you have other ideas about how to use data to develop new products, please post them in the comments.
