What Baby Clothes Can Teach You About Understanding Your Customers
If you’re a parent, you’re probably familiar with something that’s been recently reintroduced into my life. It’s 2 am, and my 7-month-old son wakes up and is in need of a new diaper and bottle. So I get up and head into his room. I’m half asleep, I need to undo his PJs, change the diaper, and redo the PJs. And there is one type of PJs that are head and shoulders above the rest: the reverse zip PJs. So good in fact, that I’m certain they were designed by parents that had the same exact experience I’ve shared.
Types of Baby PJs
OK so here’s a quick primer for those of you who’ve never experienced what I described above. There are several types of baby PJs1:
- Looped button. These are similar to dress shirts, where you need to button the whole thing, from collar to feet, and you need to loop the buttons.
- Snap buttons. Similar to loop buttons, but no loop.
- Over the head, usually snaps at the bottom. These don’t cover the legs so you’ll need pants too.
- Zip. Zipper starts at the feet, and you zip up to the collar.
- Reverse Zip. Zipper starts at the collar, and you zip down to the feet.
Why does this matter, and why are reverse zip the best?
Here’s the Problem with Baby Pajamas
Only a sleep deprived parent dealing with a hungry, crying baby in the middle of the night could understand the frustration of other types of PJs. First of all, only a sociopath could have designed looped button baby pajamas. Trying to fiddle with them in the dark2, with a squirmy baby, going from top to bottom is impossible.
Snap buttons are slightly better but they don’t snap reliably. And when you get to the diaper area, there’s a high probability that you will miss a button and have to redo your work.
Zip, along with the button up, require you to take your baby’s legs out of the PJs to change the diaper. This might seem trivial. But again, you’re tired (and maybe cranky), your baby is tired, cranky, and squirming. Mine twists and turns. Trying to managing all of that should be an Olympic sport.
Reverse Zip is the CLEAR Winner
But Reverse Zip! Yes, the legs still have to come out. But the baby is only half out of the PJs. And zipping down allows you to corral the legs a little and get them mostly dressed before having to get the legs back in. Much easier to manage.
And if you’re thinking, “Joe has spent too much time thinking about baby PJs,” you’re probably not changing a baby 5-10 times a day. But whoever invented the reverse zip PJs is, because they understand the problem.
You MUST Understand the Problem
See, when you offer a product or service, you need to understand the problem you’re solving. If you don’t, you’ll end up with a lackluster (or straight up frustrating) product, like looped button baby pajamas3.
But if you do understand, and you communicate it well, potential customers will know, like, and trust you faster. And that means they’ll become customers faster. And they’ll be loyal because they feel like you know them.
Guess the only type of baby PJs my wife and I buy.
Talk To Potential Customers
Having the same problem and solving it for yourself definitely helps you understand, and communicate that understanding. One of the reasons I’m an effective podcast educator and coach is because I’ve been through it. I’ve made the mistakes, I know the problems, and I can speak the same language of potential clients.
But understanding the problem doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have that same problem. If you’re not necessarily going through it, but you think you can offer a solution, talk to potential customers. This is advice I’ve gotten time and time again on my podcast. You can’t speak their language if you don’t know what they’re saying.
Create an MVP and let people use. Conduct user interviews. Listen to the words they use and use the same language on your sales page and in your talks.
When people are give you money, they want to know you have the solution they need.
If you want to make baby clothes, make sure you know everything about the people who have to put those clothes on their babies.
