What do customers hate about us?

Most customer research is only ever half finished. You know, we measure customer satisfaction almost religiously, right? We track experience scores, we might do some qual and quant analyses, maybe even do a focus group or two. Anyway, we take the time and we spend the money and effort to find out what our customers love about our products, but we almost never study what they hate, even though it can have a profound influence on purchasing decisions. I think this is a bigger deal than we realize because if, look, if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that most purchases aren't about finding the so-called perfect solution. They're about avoiding the worst problems, right? It's, it's risk avoidance. The majority of buyers, especially in B2B, pick the option that annoys them the least and offers the least amount of fallout if things go wrong, rather than the one that actually delights them the most. As manufacturers, we keep blindly adding feature upon feature and functionality upon functionality while we're still ignoring key fundamental irritations that, you know, existing customers probably still put up with, but new buyers won't. New capabilities matter less if basic frustrations remain. Having a streamlined idiot-proof checkout process, for example, beats having 10 new product features if customers abandon their carts long before the experience isn't as good as it could have been. We're still solving for delight when we should be solving for reduced friction. Buyers just want to get it over with as quickly and as intuitively as possible, right? They're never going to be looking at our look at the product with a magnifying glass the way that we do. I think understanding customer dislikes isn't just useful research, but it's also often the fastest path to sustainable business growth. You know, of— often the best way forward is removing what's holding people back. I think the question isn't just what customers want more of, but what they want less of. Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard, please pass it on. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm saying many out there are wrong. Please subscribe, share, comment, whatever works for you. Find out more at kexino.com. That's K-E-X-I-N-O. Hope to see you again here soon.