How to attract customers transparently: the perfect touch method

The perfect touch — is a method that helps tell about a product. It is used to attract customers.
This method is for designers and entrepreneurs.

What means a regular “touch”

The best way to present a product is to let customers touch it: hold it in their hands, try it out, and feel the smell. Let’s call all of this “a touch”.

Example. A company called “The Super Pan” sells… frying pans. The pans are well made: durable, easy to clean, with a foldable hand—they are easy to store.

To let “touch” the product, the company opens a store. The shelves in that store are full of new shining super-pans. The company hires salespeople. They will explain the benefits of the product and help find the best pan for a customer.

“A touch” is expensive

Let’s say 100 people per month enter the store of “The Super Par”. Even if every second customer immediately buys a pan, it’s 50 pans per month. It is the maximum for the store because only neighbors visit it.

The store is costly. “The Super Pan” needs to pay wages, rent, electricity, and water. It needs to constantly clean the pans so they look good and shiny.

If things will keep going this way, “The Super Pan” will run out of money and close. It needs to spend less but sell the same or more.

What means “the perfect touch”

The perfect touch is when clients can understand everything about the product, and it’s free for the company.

The word “perfect” here refers to a perfect solution in TRIZ — Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.

It was created by a soviet engineer Genrich Altshuller. He wanted to find methods for solving any creative problem. One of them is finding a perfect object — such an object does its function, but it doesn’t require any resources.

The perfect touch on the example with pans:

“The Super Pan” wants to reduce costs. It builds the website. On that website, the company uploads pictures of the pans: in their best condition, with professional lighting, from several angles — to see different parts of the pans.

Near the pictures — a piece of text. It describes the pans: their materials, for which food was the pan made, and for what kind of kitchen setup — everything a salesperson would tell.

The website isn’t the perfect object. You need money to build it and shoot the photos. But it is close enough to the perfect object, so “The Super Pan” wouldn’t close and could start making a profit.

When the perfect touch isn’t necessary?

To let “touch” perfectly or regularly — in the real world — depends on the situation. “A regular touch” is often justified when it’s a big purchase.

Consider cars selling business. A car is expensive. Often people take their time to decide which car they want — once bought, it serves for 5–10 years. For car dealers, it makes sense to let customers try to ride a car, so they are convinced they want to buy it.

Algorithm for ”the perfect touch”

1. Think of how to let customers “touch” the product—in a regular way

Find why people would want to buy the product, and what value would they see in it. Then show these values.

Values of the super-pans: the non-stick surface, durability, and a foldable hand. These are the reasons why customers might prefer the super-pans. That’s what salespeople were describing in the store.

2. Reduce costs—make the touch as close to perfect as possible

How to do it is a creative task. High quality photos, selling descriptions, videos, 3D models, social media, podcasts, or even books—all of this might work.

“The Super Pan” benefited from a website with informative pictures.

The algorithm in the example of Francesco’s cafe

Francesco works as a barista. He knows all about coffee. Make your order as specific as you want, he will nail it—find the right beans, roasting method, grind size, and the way to brew it.

Francesco decided to start his business and open a cafe. To tell people about his coffee, he uses the perfect touch algorithm.

1. How to let customers “touch” the product. Here is the plan. To show how great Francesco’s coffee is, he will stop people on the streets, ask them what coffee they like, and brew it for them for free.

If Francesco’s skill is great indeed, people will start recommending him to their friends. But giving away coffee for free is expensive. Francesco might run out of money before he gets enough customers.

2. Make the touch “perfect”. Francesco decides to reduce costs. Instead of giving away coffee, he opens an Instagram page. He posts beautiful shots of freshly brewed coffee and pictures of smiling customers. Once a week Francesco shares tips on brewing coffee. By doing this he’s showing his knowledge of coffee-making. This is a sign for customers that they will get a good experience with Francesco’s coffee.

An Instagram page requires skill on its own. Francesco had to hire a photographer and started to learn copywriting to make post descriptions. So you can’t say that an Instagram page is completely free for Francesco, but it is cheaper and more rewarding than giving his coffee away.

What’s your opinion on the perfect touch? Let me know in the comments!

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