The recent Facebook changes have taken over the world by storm. Facebook users are used to the sudden “suprise” changes that the social media giant often pulls on them. However, the most recent changes in the product design and development have sparked louder cries of outrage from Facebook users. A real-time activity stream, a subscribe button, and a merged news feed were added in an attempt to give users a more “social” experience. The result? Headlines, tweets, and comments like these:
Can someone please teach Facebook about customer-driven product design and development?
In today’s extremely competitive economy and social media-driven world, businesses are turning to social product design and development and letting customers have a say in the product development process. This leaves many wondering why Facebook did not ask users for their input on what changes they should make to the application.
Why your customers deserve a say in product design and development
With the amount of complaints streaming through the social web about Facebook, it’s astounding that users are not abandoning the application. Unfortunately, not all companies will go that route, especially if customers need to pay for the product or service. Get one customer complaint, and you may lose them (and their friends), for life. Your customers deserve a say in the product design and development, you will be well on your way to promoting a social business and producing customer-driven innovations.
How to let customers help with product design and development
At OneDesk, we believe that the voice of the customer is the key to developing innovative products.
Let customers tell you what they want. Give them access to channels through which you can capture their feedback from, and through which you can let them know you are listening to them. OneDesk provides you with a customer feedback application, a social media monitoring tool, and collaboration tools to ease the idea-capturing process.
Once you capture customer ideas, bring them into the development process and evaluate and analyze them based on your business goals. OneDesk’s requirements analysis tool helps you pinpoint ideas that will drive your business to success. Its project management component helps you plan out customer-driven products or services, and keeps everyone on the same page at all times.
Do you think Facebook should have asked customers for input in terms of their product design and development?