The power of providing unanticipated value
When you buy or use a product or service. You’d expect it to deliver some basic value proposition.
When you buy or use a product or service. You’d expect it to deliver some basic value proposition. Such as: ‘I buy electricity & water from a service provider. It keeps my appliances and taps running’ — That’s a basic level of service. The company is providing basic value.
Some electricity providers do provide a breakdown of your spending and how you compare to other households of a similar size. That’s exciting because I’m getting ‘extra value’ from the company but in the modern age of data-abundance, this has come to be an expected value. I’m not going to change or stick with service providers because of this.
Then there’s extra value a service provider could give. Such as discounts for being a loyal customer or even frequent advice on how to save money on the electric bill. This is unanticipated value! The type of thing that delights customers enough to tell their friends about it.
To recap:
Basic Value: Important because if it’s not done well, people will get frustrated with it and say your service sucks.
Expected Value: Also important, because you’re overdelivering on the basic value.
Unanticipated Value: This is powerful. This is what makes customers loyal and even turns them into customer-evangelists that will tell their friends and family about the awesome, unexpected, thing you did for them.
I’m going to keep this in mind for future products I work on. Once a basic service has been settled and perfected — it will be valuable to explore user personas to see what kind of unspoken needs they have. (A quick example I can think of is Thread.com — where not only do you buy clothes from them, they will assign a stylist that teaches you how to wear them properly).
Always be adding value.
Growth Hacking Examples for Adding Unanticipated Value
Taobao, a marketplace by Alibaba, is famous for sellers that always provide some kind of free gift in the box with your item.
Most department stores: Give lots of free samples of other fragrances and moisturisers when you purchase something from the cosmetics counters.