How to drive Customer Traction for your startup?
“Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don’t have are enough customers.” ― Gabriel Weinberg
For a startup to succeed, there should be a good business model. And to devise a successful business model, you should have paying customers.
Customer Traction is very important for a startup.
It means that how many paying or non-paying customers are there who are using/subscribed to your product or service and how is the number growing concerning time.
Customer Traction Road-map :
If you see that traction map, then you can get many insights from this.
There are 3 stages :
The first one is the solution fit stage. At this point, you build an MVP and try to find the exact solution to the problem. Here, you are only concerned about addressing the ‘pain’ of your customer.
The second stage is the market fit stage. Here you get an overview of your customer’s behavior and you try to give them maximum advantages by your service. You are focused on providing ‘gain’ to your customers.
The final stage is the scaling stage. At this point, your product has become stable. You have a well-developed strategy and you are scaling to millions. Now you need to focus on strategies that engage your customers and make them more committed to your product/service.
Let us see, how can you drive initial traction for your startup.
i ) Solve a ‘real’ problem :
For a startup or company, you must be solving a real problem.
The definition of ‘real’ problems is that they are smaller and solve able. But these problems are the ‘pain points’ of a customer and he/she desperately needs some better replacement/solution for that.
You are a startup. Right?
Start with a single problem.
Don’t over build. Don’t solve every problem of the world.
Instead, focus on a niche. Build your market segment around that. Make a paying business model based on it. Then once you have established yourself in that area, move to other problems.
ii ) Give ‘value’ to your customer :
If you are solving a problem, then you should solve it in a way that creates ‘value’ for you in the customer’s heart.
He should get a sense of satisfaction after using your product or service. If you focus on delivering ‘value’, then believe me everything i.e customer traction, revenue, fame, etc. will follow you automatically
But if you fail to deliver this, then believe me. You are going to add another name to the list of failed companies.
iii ) Make collaborations :
Making business deals and collaborations is also important for your startup. You should always find ways to collaborate with other companies in a way that results in benefits for both.
Sometimes, competitors also have to collaborate to focus on a niche market and to serve people efficiently. For example, if two startups are working in the same city solving the same problem, then it’s useless to compete with each other covering the same area.
Instead, it would be a better approach to collaborate to focus on a particular segment of the shared market. Like, they can agree to work in different areas. This way both will be able to grow and can serve customers effectively.
iv ) Empower your customer :
If you are a startup, then it’s sure that ideally you have a great product or you are providing the best services.
But the main point is that you should be providing those services in such a way that your customer feels empowered. You cannot afford to give many perks and benefits to your customers.
Instead, you can provide your services timely. Also, you shouldn’t be overcharging your customers. It will also be a great point if you provide your employees with some training to deal with customers. These things will make your customers feel happy and empowered.
