Strategies for Engaging Diverse Consumers

Almost every Product leader I speak to shares about being interested in having an impact. It's fascinating to note that impactful changes don't always necessitate grand visions. They can be achieved through incremental steps, one customer at a time, by fostering inclusivity in our product development processes. Annie Jean-Baptiste shares "Product Inclusion is the practice of applying an inclusive lens throughout the entire product design and development process to create better products and accelerate business growth." In my journey, I've found that significant enhancements often result from incremental adjustments: 💡 Inclusive Research: Ensure our research is inclusive and we are learning from diverse customers. Even incorporating one additional dimension of diversity into our research approach can render our products a tad more inclusive. 💡 Harms Modelling: Prior to commencing product development, conducting a pre-mortem exercise focused on mitigating potential harm to our customers can significantly enhance inclusivity in our products. 💡 Diverse teams: Cultivating diverse teams fosters a rich diverse set of perspectives, thereby enriching our product development process and ensuring inclusivity is woven into the fabric of our product development. 💡 Testing with diverse customers: Leveraging diverse customer cohorts for testing enables us to identify and rectify potential biases or exclusions, resulting in products that cater to a broader audience. 💡 Building with diverse customers: Involving diverse customers in the co-creation process empowers us to tailor our products to their unique needs and preferences, fostering a sense of ownership and inclusivity. 💡 Accessibility Integration: Incorporating features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and adjustable font sizes can significantly improve accessibility and inclusivity. I found that testing accessibility before launching is a great way to minimize negative impact. #productinclusion #productmanagement #productleadership

I often say: Focus on psychographics (values, interests) Over demographics (age, gender, income) The tough part? Gathering psychographics (without being creepy or invasive.) It's easier to rely on demographics. They're: - painless to gather - straightforward - easy to analyze - quantifiable But it's a mistake to depend on them. A costly one. They're a weak data point. The role they play in purchase decisions? Smaller than many marketers think. Psychographics are much more useful. And easier to collect than you think. Here's how I do it: 👉 Customer surveys Ask direct questions about values, interests, and the purchase process. 👉 Social listening Analyze what your audience is saying in comments, reviews, and posts. Look for patterns in their language, pain points, and values. 👉 Website behavior Track which pages customers visit, what content they engage with, and how they navigate your site. 👉 Customer interviews Understand the customer buying process — from the first moment a customer noticed a problem in their life through purchasing your product (and ideally your product solving their problem). 👉 Community engagement Host webinars, engage in online groups, read and respond to customer comments. Learn your target market's pain points and how they phrase those pain points. 👉 Analyze reviews and testimonials Look for recurring themes in what people say about your product — or your competitors'. Psychographics give you: - customer behavior insights - voice-of-customer data - value props - pain points It's priceless info. Use it to hone your messaging, offers, marketing, design, and product. #marketing #customerinsights #strategy

Last week, my daughter started kindergarten – a transformational journey for most kids. As I observed her and her classmates navigate the first week of ‘big kid school,’ I gleaned some insights that apply to any consumer experience, regardless of age and size:    1. There is no "one-size-fits-all" consumer journey: Each kid entered the kindergarten with a specific mix of emotions and expectations (i.e. their emographic profile). As the week went on, each kid adjusted and readjusted their experience at different paces. By Friday, some kids were joyful and skipping into school on their own, and others were hysterically crying at the drop-off door. Despite the product offering being the same for everyone (in this case, it was kindergarten), each kid was experiencing the brand and the consumer journey differently. 2. Personalization is key: Because kids were entering the journey with varying emographic profiles, they responded to messages and behaviors from parents and teachers differently. Some kids needed high-energy enthusiasm, others needed calming and reassurance, and others hardly needed any messaging at all. The content, creative, and messaging must meet the particular consumer where they are at that moment in their journey. The wrong message to the wrong kid at the wrong time would completely disengage them and they would fall out of the funnel. (i.e. “I don’t want to go to kindergarten ever again!”) 3. Unlocking the emographic profile is critical to success: Kids who successfully acclimated to kindergarten in that first week had one thing in common -- parents and teachers who understood their specific emotional profile and adjusted their offering, messaging, and content. The better the parents and teachers understood the kid’s underlying emotions (anxiety, fear, excitement, enthusiasm, confusion), the more successful they were at converting that kid into a happy student. Understanding the complexity of the consumer’s emographic profile is the key to unlocking successful engagement and higher conversions. You can’t personalize without first having insights and understanding. #marketing #consumers #experience