4 / How do I get people to use my product?

Digital Product Basics
August 29, 2023

I keep seeing the same story over and over again from folks building digital products: I’ve built this thing, how do I get people to use it?

Now, I’ve asked myself this question more times than I’d like to admit, and it’s one of those life lessons you have to experience for yourself to truly find the answer. But, let me try to save you some heartache.

If you build a solution looking for a problem, then it’s next to impossible to find users. But, if you find a group of people, observe them and learn as much you can about them, identify the problems they face, and then solve those problems – well, you’re almost guaranteed to have a hit on your hands.

The problem here is that it’s much more fun to build than it is to observe. You feel like you’re standing still, not making progress. Building fast, shipping something, now that feels like progress!

But, where have you gone? If you’ve deeply observed folks for a good amount of time, their problems start jumping at you like corn in a hot pan. Now, you have a foundation to build on. If you’ve built something no one wants, you have to go back to square one.

Plus, the very act of observation requires that you’ve identified who it is you want to observe. So from day 1, you need to know how to find your audience. If you jump straight into building, you can miss this step and end up not knowing where to look.

So, there’s the big secret. To get people to use your product, you just need to build something they want to use. And to do that, you need to spend some time understanding them.

Until next time!

– Nick

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