Maslow’s Need Hierarchy on Products
Maslow’s theory of human motivation taught us a lot about our innate need and motivation and on top of pyramid stands self-actualization closely followed by esteem.The basic idea behind Maslow’s need hierarchy is human needs are constantly changing and as one need is met, the desire for the next level surfaces.
Can the promotion you received 10 years ago still motivate you or last year’s recognition? The answer to this is NO as your current need has changed you are looking for more or different motivating factor.
The same need theory can be applied on products as well.
A product does have a lifecycle and is desired to constantly evolve. The motivation of the product to evolve comes from what stage of the hierarchy it is in and what resources or supports it needs for the next stage?
Thus there is a need for a product to grow and reach self-actualization stage as well. But can product have motivation? Why not? If your product doesn’t get supportive environment don’t you think the product fails or leads to disengagement?
Physiological: This is a survival need where an individual need air, food, water, sleep etc. What does your product need to survive? Well it too has a need of environment or infrastructure to be built or groomed. Without supporting infrastructure, code, requirement it can’t be materialized. Each product or appliance has an operating environment. Remember the lack of basic survival need for a product will lead to no improvement in the product. Many of the unscalable MVPs fall here. Once launched, evaluated but then no support. The volume of great ideas seldom makes into the product as the basic survival need is not fulfilled when the ideas don’t materialize to a product. Therefore a product need an idea, an environment and resources for its survival need. Example: Lexicus, digital bookmark for printed books
Safety: This is a security or assurance need. Once a product survives and materializes then it needs investments, commitment of resources and more often a Product-Market fit to assure that at-least there is a demand for me. To be precise the product market fit and allocation of resources addresses the safety need of a product. If the product is buggy then how can it be repaired or restored? Allocation of investments and commitment of resources further adds maintainability to the product. Example: Ather energy.
Belonging: Creating a sense of belonging or love for the product is also a need. This is a crucial stage in your product’s growth where User-experience plays a critical role in acceptance of your product and your product need to meet the user’s expected benefits. This is where your product is almost reaching engaged state but needs promotion or marketing to foster growth. It has already been evaluated with a sample market fit but now is looking for an wider audience to accept. Example: Google pay.
Esteem: Need for recognition is always an intrinsic motivating factor for any growth be it in human or products. Post wider distribution of the products, the products which are recognized or well-reviewed by the market or customers create a separate space for themselves in the industry. Example: Volvo cars are recognized as the safest cars is an esteem for Volvo cars. Or Apple as a cult brand. The need for esteem crowns the product with a clear differentiating factor and every product has a need for strong and wider differentiating factor. Exclusivity, scarcity, command for premium price plays a vital role here.Example: iPhone
Self-actualization: This is where the product auto-sells. The product has created a brand for itself and its simply auto-flies. Many of the popular social media apps be it WhatsApp or Facebook we see has reached an actualization state. The other interpretation could be in this state the cash-cow product has already become a bigger brand than the company and is separated from the Example: WhatsApp or Instagram.
Feel free to share your inputs!
