Your Customers want Opinionated Products

There are more products and services in the world than ever before. With so many options to choose from, it's no longer enough to just have a good product. When customers invest in your product, they're also investing in your expertise and vision for solving industry problems.

You need to be an innovator, not just a builder. Industry leaders know their Product isn't just about the solution they offer today but also how to evolve and improve in the future of their Product and the industry. Customers expect you to innovate but more importantly, they expect you to lead them through the uncertainty that comes with innovation.

I like to think of a quote from none other than Jeff Bezos for this, "Be stubborn on the vision, but flexible in the details". Which I think is great advice in this context. You should be stubborn and opinionated on your Product Vision, but fluid in the minor details of how you get there.

Listen to Understand, Not Just to Hear

Your customers want more than a passive ear; they need a partner who understands their values and aligns with them. While they want you to understand their pain points, they also value your opinions on how to address those problems.

Okay, reality check... maybe not every individual customer values your opinion, but the market does. Plus timing is everything, and you can't jump too quickly with your opinions without earning the right to be heard. Before you shout your Product ideas from the rooftops, your customers need to trust that you do understand their values and respect your relationship with them. It's a two-way street and equally, once you open that door your customers and the market will expect a two-way relationship.

A real world example might help.

I'd absolutely say that Canva were opinionated in changing the game for their industry when they championed the democratization of design tools. Their customers needed an easier, less costly way to produce marketing assets but most small businesses couldn't afford to have staff formally trained as designers. Canva didn't just create the software to do that; they cultivated a vision that empowered non-designers to design effortlessly. They built a product but their opinions were strong and clear: design should never be siloed to only designers. It was controversial to the traditional design industry, but it was clear to the market what they were trying to achieve and why.

Further to this, Canva's approach didn't just provide tools; it offered guidance on the kind of content non-designers should be creating. Being opinionated is great but guiding the industry with templates, items to help "bridge the gap" and targeting your features to help make it easier to follow your opinion is probably even more important. They weren't creating tools that expected non-designers to be using pen-tools or illustrating from scratch. By leading with templates and directing people through this unknown space, they helped ease the uncertainty that your customers may have with any kind of true innovative thinking.

With that example in mind, if you want to have an opinionated product, it's probably going to cause some discomfort initially to those using it. But don't shy from that discomfort, when it should instead be managed with a strategy rather than total avoidance. Opinionated products should guide users through the changes you want to make to help absorb some of the stress that comes with the unknown. In UX there is a law called Teslers law come to mind. Whilst it is different, yes, in principle there are a lot of similarities I think of to this point. Sometimes there just is a level of complexity that cannot be avoided (aka that discomfort I mentioned). If that is the case, your job is to control that discomfort and absorb it through your product or tool wherever possible. In design it is the designers job to absorb that friction in design, but if we think of it a little more holistically in terms of our product strategy we can think of ways that our product can be absorbing that friction rather than our users, that is the result of our innovation.

That's also how you support your customers to innovate in their own businesses. Otherwise, you just build the same tool as everything else on the market.

Source: AppmySite

Customers Need Clarity

Avoid trying to be everything to everyone; customers need clarity. When you're unopinionated and directionless, you risk providing a little bit of everything in the short term, but you won't win in the long run. Saying no to a $10k deal today may save you $100k in the future. It hurts now to say no but it will hurt you more to realise what you've unknowingly said yes to.

Find your niche and be intentional when you say no. Over the next 10 years, the market and your long-term customers care less about the details of the small items you ship. They probably won't remember those. They'll remember how your product as a whole impacted them.

We talk about product market fit often, but it’s important to find your fit and remain opinionated on why you have marked fit. This helps eliminate ambiguity for not just you but also your customers.

Image Source: Usersnap

The Balance Between Opinion and Flexibility

While having a strong opinion has many pros, I should also clarify that being too opinionated can be detrimental. It's about balance. There's probably some general life advice in that statement too, but let's keep it to Product for now.

Imagine you're introducing a new feature or entering a new market. Are you pushing your customers toward this feature because it's the best path to value? Or are you just adding extra options and leaving them adrift with vague "optional" paths to take? Is this your individual opinion or the opinion of the time? Or is it a strategic position of value?

It should be acknowledged, that how your customers feel about changing can influence your likelihood of adoption more so than the capabilities of the feature itself. An opinionated approach instils confidence in your customers, guiding them toward success. They will undergo the change management of adoption because they trust your expertise and your opinions on your own product.

Products that thrive are those that listen to their customer's needs, and understand their values, but also lead with strong opinions in their domain. Striking the right balance between flexibility and opinion is key to building trust and delivering value. Your opinions, when rooted in expertise, can be a guiding light for your customers, helping them navigate a rapidly changing tech landscape with confidence.

Your customers should be confident that they understand the problem your product solves, and you should be opinionated in the future of your domain.