Embracing the Groundswell

When you embrace the groundswell, you can move more quickly.  There are two reasons for this.  First being that consumers do not hesitate to tell you what they want.  They are the ones using your product and are interacting with your company.  They know what the problem is and what can be done to fix it.  They often have ideas that people in your company have not thought of yet.  Whenever your company is ready, they can tap into this resource of “innovation”.  According to Li and Bernoff, people who have connected with customers are always amazed at how much more quickly they generate ideas.

The second reason is that once customers are “in the loop”, innovation happens more quickly because you can “iterate” – make continuous improvements.  Once you begin receiving feedback from consumers, you process it quickly, and can go back and ask the next question.

The key factor to remember is to show feedback online.  This way, your customers see that you look responsive, and then you can continue the discussion.

According to Bernoff and Li, the thing to remember is that embracing your customers takes a balance between skill and humility.