Article

Daniel Durandt
Daniel Durandt 14 January 2016

Shaping Business And Customer Wants

Businesses should be aware of how they shape and manage customer wants

Progress always shapes the items we want and, yet, what we want shapes the path of progress for businesses. There’s a sweet spot between these two where the most successful businesses always come to fruition and they do this in two ways.

First, they fulfill a need customers want, then expand upon it. A good example of this is Facebook. It was not the first social network and it won’t be the last, but it is the most popular. This meant, at time of its creation, it had lost a major advantage: being first. But what the company did was maintain a unique focus on longterm goals, ignore short-term financial benefits and execute policies and ideas, then react to user yells.

By doing this, they distinguished themselves from the more static and less innovative networks before them. This is a key way they found success.

Second, businesses note customer wants then massage them into unique wants only they can provide. The best example of this was Apple’s iPod. Of course everyone wanted to listen to music on the go; mobile MP3 players were already around, but hardly popular.

The iPod’s key was streamlining: it made transfers easy, it made the controls easy and it made acquiring new music easy. This created a demand for simplicity that users didn’t know they could have.

This has shaped our wants and desires in terms of tech in numerous ways. A good example is how we consider cars. Right now, BMW, for example, is investing in ’AirTouch’ 3D gesture control. They demonstrated it recently and it’s technology that allows, says Mashable,

“users to adjust volume, access navigation and even answer a phone call without touching a single button — everything was controllable with in-air gestures.”

This might seem like a luxury upgrade but consider the importance of being able to control your car, without having to grab or look too far away from steering. After all, distractions are a key reason accidents occur. By helping reduce distractions, we better help customers - and thus create a want for customers.

In future then when you look for used BMW cars for sale, air gestures will be considered normal. This has happened with many of luxury additions: ABS brakes, airbags and so on. All became mandatory and you find these in second-hand cars today.

Businesses then should consider this when it comes to how they market- as these are ways we shape customer wants and desires.

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
‘Complainer marketing’ – should we harness rage to promote brands?

‘Complainer marketing’ – should we harness rage to promote brands?

As marketers, we're always looking to get the best results for our clients. But should we highjack the emotions of their customers to do so? No, as I explain in this post, you're better than that.

Tom Chapman
Tom Chapman 18 July 2018
Read more
How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

Whether you're a startup or an established business, the company website is an essential element of your digital marketing strategy. The most effective sites are continually nurtured and developed in line with...

Digital Doughnut Contributor
Digital Doughnut Contributor 7 January 2020
Read more
7 reasons why social media marketing is important for your business

7 reasons why social media marketing is important for your business

Social media is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, which provides incredible benefits that help reach millions of customers worldwide. And if you are not applying this profitable...

Sharron Nelson
Sharron Nelson 6 February 2018
Read more
Infographic: The State of Product Discovery 2023

Infographic: The State of Product Discovery 2023

New research from London Research and Attraqt explores the latest trends around product discovery in digital commerce, covering site search, merchandising and personalisation.

Linus Gregoriadis
Linus Gregoriadis 25 May 2023
Read more
The Use of Chatbots in Improving Customer Experience and Brand Engagement

The Use of Chatbots in Improving Customer Experience and Brand Engagement

Chatbots have become increasingly popular in recent years, and have been used by many businesses as a tool for improving customer experience and brand engagement. A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate...

Brack Nelson
Brack Nelson 18 May 2023
Read more