In their pursuit of developing products and services that consumers will “love,” product developers and marketers have a tendency to “over-engineer” their products – meaning a tendency to try to develop a product that will be “all things to all people.”
This is not surprising because if you ask consumers in market research if they would like a “comprehensive offering,” most will reply “yes.”
More options are always a good thing, right?
What They Say, Mean, and Do
However, we human beings sure are complex, often saying one thing and then doing the exact opposite.
What we say we would like to have, and then what we actually buy, are often very different – to the endless frustration of product developers around the globe.
As consumer experience expert Colin Shaw suggests, though Disney theme park vacationers and visitors often say they want salads and other healthy foods for themselves and their families, what they really want, and buy, are hot dogs and hamburgers. If Disney only followed what customers said, they’d focus on salad; and this would diminish the overall park experience, potentially leading to churn. (source: WHAT CONSUMERS SAY VS. MEAN VS. DO)
The Disney example is powerful, but perhaps another example that might be closer to home to you is the rise of the specialists restaurants versus the generalist restaurants.
There are many examples, but to give just one that I am very familiar with (to the detriment of my expanding waistline!), the specialist restaurant “Five Guys” offers one primary food combination: a hamburger with fries.
Of course, you can also get a very nice hamburger and fries combination at a generalist restaurant like Applebees, but Applebees will also offer you many other food combinations.
I would wager that in market research with the general population, if you asked a consumer, conceptually, if she would prefer the “only one combination” restaurant offering versus the “comprehensive selection” restaurant offering, most consumers would select the latter.
Based on that research alone, an entrepreneur suggesting opening a restaurant like “Five Guys” would be considered crazy.
But from what I can tell, Five Guys is quite successful.
Peeling Back the Layers of the Onion
I admit to not yet forming a strong opinion on this, so I am thinking and exploring, but I have a sense that the product “over-engineering” tendency has come to the Pro-Life Business Industry.
There is a Pregnancy Help Center, or Pregnancy Medical Center, model emerging that seeks to offer women “comprehensive” healthcare.
On the surface, I think that sounds great!
But I’m not convinced that model will succeed in the market, especially as a competitive counter to Planned Parenthood, even though I am sure market researchers will tell me that “comprehensive women’s healthcare” is what women say they want.
I don’t doubt that’s what they say they want.
However, I have a sense that from a marketing perspective, even if a PHC/PMC did not offer “comprehensive” women’s healthcare, young women would be more attracted to a PHC/PMC business model that branded with a message that resonates at a deeper level focused on a psychological benefit that young women deeply desire – think freedom, happiness, success, self-fulfillment – things at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (check out my article for more about Maslow: Who Offers the More Attractive Product).
More to ponder…
Regards,
Brett
