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DELIGHT YOUR CUSTOMERS
Making your customers happy so that they keep coming back for more might sound like an obvious business goal - but in practice many find this hard to achieve and others only realise they're not doing enough when their market share starts to dwindle.
According to the Design Council, which helps businesses understand and use design effectively as part of their strategy, design can be an all-important factor in helping you to delight your customers and attract new ones. It's not just about making your product or service attractive, but about improving your overall business and boosting productivity.
"A lot of companies do prototypes without thinking of the customer. Involve designers from the start - they will bring the customer focus in and create designs that work better in a shorter space of time," advises Susan Krantz, intermediary development manager at the Design Council.
As the Design Council advises, the key is not only to give people what they want, but also to provide what they didn't realise they needed, which is where design can come in.
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"A lot of companies are creative, but designers can be that and more. They can source materials that companies would not have been aware of, and know about upcoming legislation that might affect particular product designs. They can bring experience, flair and creativity," advises Krantz.
Market research can give you a wealth of data about people's preferences and habits, such as which newspapers they read and where they take their holidays, but as the Design Council stresses, this information "is good but not that good".
'This information is useful but it is usually not enough. A key design technique for getting beyond the limitations of this information is watching what people do. The act of observing people interacting both with what they use currently and what designers produce in prototype form can be the first stage in helping businesses develop innovative new products and services which meet the needs customers don't express," it advises.
As a first step, work out what issues you want to address. Before you get a designer on board, it's important to work out your budget, discuss what areas you want to improve and see how feasible this will be.
The Design Council has also produced a Design Directory, a database of UK designers. There is also advice on choosing the right designer and ensuring your relationship with them is as effective as possible. Go to www.designdirectory.org for more information.
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