In the business world, the word user or customer are often mentioned as people who use the product or service of your business. Actually, what is the difference between user and customer, and who is your actual target? Which one is more important?
#GenerasiPenemu, the word user literally means someone who use something, and the word customer literally means someone who buy something. In any business, customer does not always mean user, and vice versa.
There are people who are indeed users as well as customers, but there are also many people who are only one of them, for example, in the world of educational startups, parents who understand digital thing and buy learning packages for children can be called customers, while the children who receive and use the learning packages is called user.
According to StartupRunner, when everyone is competing to find digital technology that can make their lives easier, the role of the user often becomes more important to put your attention in than the role of the customer. No one will want to remember and return to using a product if there is no interesting experience they feel from the product. In this case, an interesting experience can be felt when a user become someone who uses a product.
In order to attract the attention of users so that they want to return to using the product you want to market, you need to prioritize simplicity. It will be very difficult for someone to remember and want to use a product again when the first experience using the product is not that impressive.
User or Customer Explanation
The user experience can be said to be good or impressive when the user does not experience the ‘learning’ phase, aka does not require direction in using the product. So, from here you can understand that in building a startup business, the user needs to take precedence over the customer because user is a machine that can develop into a customer, though customer is equally important in the long term. The benchmark in attracting users to use your product is not only about the number of users who have used it, but how satisfied and happy they are when using your product.
On the other hand, customers are people who will loyally buy your products and of course play an important role in making profits for your startup company. However, attracting customers has a longer work process for your startup because you need to think about their needs with how much cost they want or are willing to spend, not to mention product analysis and product prices. Customers will be easier to get when someone’s journey to becoming a customer starts with them becoming a user first.
To understand your customers, you need to first understand who the people are that will buy your product, and what underlies their decision to buy your product. Is it because their needs match your product qualifications? Is it because the price of your product is cheaper than competitors out there? Or because your product is much more effective and efficient than other products? Customers also often think about the brand of a product and how popular the product is among the public – something that is less common among users.
In the digital startup industry, there are many examples that have succeeded in proving that the user’s position is slightly superior and higher than the customer, for example in buying and selling transactions in e-commerce or marketplaces. People will become users first because they first use the site or application that will be the place where they sell or buy goods. After that, then people will turn into customers, people who are willing to pay to use e-commerce or marketplaces to sell their goods, or to buy things they want/need.
Below are the things you need to do to get customers or users for your startup.
Customer discovery:
- Determine customer needs
- Perform product validation
- Market price analysis and testing
- Measurement of market potential
User discovery:
- Interview user experience in using the product
- Creating prototypes and conducting product trials
- Doing A/B test
- Analyze data usage
- Find out user journey and experience
In conclusion, users and customers both have an important role and position in making startups. For that, you need to prioritize the existence of both of them in the startup process in order of priority, and make #IdeDariKamu become a reality!
Kesimpulannya, user dan customer sama-sama memiliki peranan dan kedudukan yang penting dalam pembuatan startup. Untuk itu, kamu perlu mementingkan keberadaan keduanya dalam proses pembuatan startup sesuai dengan urutan prioritas, dan wujudkan #IdeDariKamu menjadi kenyataan!
Follow the journey of other #GenerasiPenemu friends at the 2021 Ideanation Annual Competition on Instagram @in.ideanation. You can see other articles about business regarding the startup industry on the Ideanation website www.ideanation.id.
