In today’s cut-throat business world, standing out from the competition is crucial for success. Uncovering hidden opportunities in business by expanding your customer base can make all the difference and propel you to the top. By designing inclusively and for all, you broaden your customer base, enhance your brand reputation and loyalty, and drive innovation. Neglecting to cater to a broader audience can lead to missed opportunities, brand damage, and even legal troubles. Don’t let that happen to you!
To avoid such negative outcomes and design products that meet the needs of a broader audience, it’s important to create a multi-faceted persona. A multi-faceted persona takes into account not only demographic information, such as age, gender, and location, but also other factors that influence an individual’s decision-making process, such as their cultural background, body size, values, beliefs, and more.
At Propel Innovations, we understand the importance of designing products that benefit a broader audience. That’s why we’ve developed Beneath the Surface – a guide to help product teams, founders, and marketers design products that resonate with customers of all backgrounds.
In this article, we share our four-step process to help you design products that cater to a broader audience while avoiding brand damage.
Step 1: Who are you missing in your target audience?
The first step is to create a multi-faceted persona. Don’t worry; we know it can be daunting to think about who you’re missing. But, Beneath the Surface will guide you to uncover the hidden characteristics that will give you an edge in the market. Once you have a multi-faceted persona, you’ll be ready to get to know your audience.
Step 2: Get to know your unique audience
This step is often overlooked, but it’s crucial to success. Talk to your potential customers and understand their unique struggles and desires. We’ll help you design surveys and conduct interviews with questions that are sensitive to your audience’s past experiences that have made them feel included or excluded. By doing so, you’ll be able to gain a deeper understanding of their unique needs and insights, and avoid creating products that don’t resonate with them – ultimately preventing any damage to your brand relationship.
Step 3: Leverage their insights and design innovative solutions
With this information, it’s time to take a hard look at your product’s design and content. Identify any biases or assumptions that could be limiting your product’s desirability. Then, brainstorm innovative solutions to adapt your product to the needs of a broader audience. This could involve changes to your product’s design, content, marketing strategy, or even the language you use to communicate with your audience.
Step 4: How might you design a product that is respectful, enjoyable and responsible?
Once you’ve made the necessary changes, it’s time to test your product with your multi-faceted persona. This step ensures that your product meets their unique needs and desires. Conduct user testing, analyse their feedback, and make any further changes necessary to ensure your product is a respectful and enjoyable experience, leading to your success.
By leveraging the needs of your unique customers’ characteristics and tapping into untapped markets, you can create a product that stands out in the market and truly resonate with them. And, when you work with Propel Innovations, you’ll get the edge you need to succeed.
Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your customer base and achieve the success you deserve.
Junie Baptiste Poitevien
Junie Baptiste Poitevien is the Founder of Propel Innovations, a boutique UX (user experience) research service that specialises in inclusivity and niche markets, helping retail and digital businesses understand customer needs through research and design services and illuminate the opportunities that are often overlooked. Experience a sneak peek of Beneath the Surface https://rb.gy/jgmu5
We Are Emersyn uses an inclusive definition “female” and “women” and we welcome trans people, women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female, women, or non-binary.