The Secret Product Your Customers Want

by Lara Marlin Hull

Last week I gave an example of a newsletter by the statistical software company StatEase, noting how they manage to make authentic connections with their customers.  The name doesn’t exactly conjure up warm fuzzies, but they definitely connect.

To further dissect this idea, I expanded my research into this audience-attuned company through their website.

Design of Experiment (DOE): daunting, even for the most math-enthusiastic scientist.  And for scientists who experience dull panic at the thought of more statistics, just imagine their sense of relief when they see the words “I need immediate help” glowing lovingly up at them from their computer.

Now that’s knowing your audience.  To my eyes, this may as well have said “You’re new, huh? Here are all the answers you’ve been looking for.”

Do you know what your website is saying to your scientists?

If you’re focused on what you’re selling instead of on what your scientist’s really need, you won’t be talking to them for long.

Even their name implies that you’re in competent hands, with “Ease” nicely taking the sting out of “Stat.” Other options welcome folks who are further along the learning curve, which also speaks to how well they know their audience.

Some lucky researchers can leap elsewhere, to Six Sigma or Expert territory – not exactly relevant to a Beginner, but comforting to know that this company won’t bail on you once you’ve completed your first tutorial and bought their software.

In the mindset of a scientist researching this product for actual use, I click the link for a Beginner and get -

1. Immediate validation (very important to the math-anxious scientist), and
2. A laundry list of all of the resources StatEase provides to make statistics easy for you.

I’m sold – at least on giving the company a try and contacting them first. Can they provide me with the product I need?  Yes.

But more importantly, they know that what I really need is a highly accessible resource throughout the life of this endless project.

Time spent looking beyond the surface of your product can be worth a goldmine.

Not all of the StatEase resources are free, and the in-depth courses and materials cost you, but (at least to the eye of a Beginner) they’ve already gone a long way toward convincing you that they know how to make your life easier and your project more successful.

Get to know your audience – they’ll help you see the potential beyond the product. Plus, it’s one more way to delve into the mysterious mind of the scientist – what an adventure!

NOTE

The author has no affiliation in any way with StatEase (truly, even though they are the subject of 2 of her posts, together constituting 67% of her total posts so far) and can’t endorse their products since she hasn’t tried them.  She has admired the marketing from afar and has an appreciation for accessible, reliable, customer-based services.