CustDev for IT companies

СustDev

Any IT project, especially at the stage of incipiency, must be tested for the demand for ideas and products.  Taking into consideration the duration of the deal cycle and lack of ready references, the majority of companies prefer to study the competitors’ experience or start from the research of their own related fields.

Meanwhile, for marketing in the IT sphere, online or offline surveys are essential for future success. CustDev’s task is to understand the problem and find the best solution, simplifying the user’s life. The more clarifying questions a developer asks, the more accurate will be the development of customer strategy.

Principles of developing a new customer-oriented product

The main question that the creator of an IT project must ask himself is what problems his product will be able to solve. The answer is the essence of CustDev – understanding what the end user or customer of the project wants. It’s not just a way to test product hypotheses, but also what the customer is willing to pay.

The customer development team involved in CustDev must be technically savvy in different areas, have a keen eye, an outlook, and understand IT market trends. The source of hypothesis can be a developed intuition or knowledge of market trends.

The principles of CustDev are aimed at the development of client service, studying the client, his attitude to the idea.  You need to know your target audience in order to be guided by the client’s pain. What does a customer development strategy provide?

• The solution to a specific problem. If the development is ordered by a company, it is necessary to find out what exactly it needs. Conducting a castaway at the conception stage of a project helps to understand the client’s desires, so that the client is satisfied and the developer doesn’t waste time.
• The value of the product/service.  If the client feels positive emotions when he gets the solution, it means that the development of the product oriented to the client is done correctly.
• Screening out ready-made but inappropriate hypotheses. This is required to minimize the risk of using the product in the future and to choose the solution architecture.

How CustDev is built

To test hypotheses, the usefulness of ideas for different market segments and CA is investigated. Only after that are relevant customers or representatives of the target audience who are ready for problematic interviews sought. The idea should always be confirmed or refuted by the results of the survey.

Understanding the consumer insight helps to get into the problem, find the best solution, take into account the functionality that the potential customer had no idea about. As a result, the final product should fully satisfy the potential consumer, to close his “pains”.

When creating a product one should constantly maintain contact with clients (customer), receive feedback. All responses should be analyzed, and information should be reconsidered. This makes it easier to understand the flaws in order to correct them and test the hypotheses again.

It is necessary to work with the client constantly, without fear of repetition – and so until the best solution is found. It is necessary to collect as much information as possible about the required processes and the desired results. Only after that can a product prototype be created and advertising campaigns for further promotion on the market launched.

When developing your IT-product, do not forget to carry out castdev so as not to miss a single detail that ultimately affects the sales of the finished product. Our experts have conducted a number of studies and are ready to share their knowledge about launching projects in the checklist on comprehensive marketing for IT companies.