Design is a process that helps create products and services people love. It is an iterative, human-centered approach to innovation that combines empathy with a deep understanding of user needs to generate new ideas. In this article, we'll explore how design thinking can help you unleash new growth opportunities in your business.
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Empathize
Understand the problem: The first step in design thinking is empathizing with your customers' needs. That means understanding their pain points and frustrations while identifying opportunities they may not have realized.
Understand what matters to them: Once you know what frustrates your customers and what opportunities exist, it's time to dig deeper into why these things matter to them. Why do they feel a certain way about something? What does this mean for their everyday life or business? How can you make things better for both parties involved?
Understand the current situation: When exploring ways to improve an existing product or service, it's essential to know what problems exist today and where these issues came from to establish an overall sense of direction moving forward into new territory.
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Define
The first step to shifting your approach is to define your problem. This can be done by precisely analyzing the current situation and what you're trying to achieve. You can also use this process to gain insight from your team, customers, or anyone involved in the project.
Then, it's time to define your target audience. Who will be using this product? What are their needs? How old are they? The more information you know about who will be using your product, the better you will be at creating something that works for them (and not just yourself).
Next, define all of the goals behind this innovation. Are some questions worth asking include: Is there any competition already doing something similar? What problems do they solve better than us? How can we make our solution even more effective than theirs?' Defining these goals early on helps ensure that each part contributes towards solving those problems in some way throughout development.
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Ideate
You'll be encouraged to generate as many ideas as possible in the ideation process. This can be overwhelming for some people, but it's important to remember that not all concepts need to be fully formed or viable. The goal is to generate a large pool of options from which you can select the best later in the process.
Ideation is a creative process, and it should feel that way—you don't want to feel like your brain has been locked down during this stage! You may find yourself having random flashes of inspiration or insight while doing laundry, taking out the trash, or walking down the street—these moments are great opportunities for coming up with new ideas!
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Build a trial product/service model
This goal is to test if your idea resonates with customers and determine if the flow, interactions, and experience are intuitive and effective. You will be looking for user feedback on what they like or don't like about it and how easy or difficult it was to use.
You may also want to consider testing different variations on the core idea to get more insight into which elements of your design impact customer satisfaction.
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Test the market
Make sure that your product or service is something people want. You can do this by going directly to your customers and asking them what they think or with a focus group. Get feedback from your employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders as well. Once you've gathered enough information from these sources (and others), you'll better understand how to proceed with your new business.
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Share the new product/service
Once you've figured out how to design your product or service, it's time to promote it.
When marketing a product or service, people don't want to read about the features of what you offer; they want to see a story that shows why they should care. That's why storytelling is so effective in business—it creates an emotional connection with your audience and shows them why they should buy from you instead of someone else.
If possible, create a brand identity for yourself and your new product/service (you might need help with this). Then start brainstorming ways to tell stories through different mediums: write guest posts on relevant blogs, create podcast episodes discussing the topic, and sing about it on social media. The possibilities are endless!
Conclusion
Design thinking is a powerful tool for unleashing new growth. Ultimately, it's really about getting customers to connect with your brand—and then, ideally, come back again and again because they love what you do.
