Do Not Build Features, Solve Problems: A Customer-Centric Approach
More features don’t always mean a better product.
The key to building products that people love isn’t the features themselves, but rather the problems those features solve.
In product development, it’s easy to get caught up in the charm of adding new features. After all, more features often seem synonymous with progress. However, the key to successful product development lies not in the quantity of features but in the ability to solve real problems for customers.
Adopting a problem-solving mindset (aka customer-centric approach) ensures every feature you build has a clear purpose and delivers real value to your users.
A customer-centric approach starts with a deep understanding of your target audience — their challenges, goals, and the context in which they operate.
By immersing yourself in their world, you can identify the real problems they face and design solutions that directly address those problems. This approach requires empathy, active listening, and a willingness to let go of preconceived notions about what your customers want. Instead of building features based on internal assumptions, you engage in a continuous dialogue with your customers, gathering insights and feedback at every stage of the process.
The result is a product or service that truly resonates with your target audience, solving their most pressing problems in an intuitive and user-friendly manner.
For example,
Dropbox addressed the problem of bulky external hard drives and the constant struggle to keep files synced across multiple devices.
Their cloud storage solution offered a seamless way to access and share files from anywhere, anytime. Airbnb saw an opportunity to disrupt the traditional hospitality industry by solving the problem of limited and expensive accommodation options. Their platform connected travellers with unique spaces to stay, while allowing hosts to monetize their unused spaces.
By prioritizing problem-solving over feature building, these companies addressed fundamental needs, provided clear value propositions and were able to develop products that truly resonated with their target audience.
So, the next time you’re brainstorming product ideas, remember to focus on the problems you’re trying to solve.
When you build with purpose, you’ll create products that people love and use. Whatever problem you are trying to solve, go one step back to reduce the friction and put effort on the root cause. Remember, it’s not about building features; it’s about solving problems.
Focusing on problems instead of features is the golden rule for product success.
