Why now is the best time to speak to your customers to help your business innovate in a time of crisis

Covid-19 has dramatically changed our lives, personally and professionally in ways that were completely unexpected. With change, can come innovation and having optimism that things can change for the better.

"The optimist regards the future as uncertain." - Eugene Wigner

Customer priorities are changing

Customers are looking for companies that do the right thing by the environment and society.

Brands need to show their purpose now more than ever. Recent research released by Capgemini showed more than half of the consumers expect organisations to demonstrate their sense of purpose both during the crisis and beyond. The analysis shows that brands that demonstrate purpose grow twice as fast as others.

B-Corps are successfully balancing profit for shareholders and purpose, with enhanced social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to reduce inequality through more inclusive and sustainable business practices.

Although Covid has been awful as it has resulted in deaths, shrunk the economy and has drastically reduced freedoms we were previously used to, it has shown us the impact of our behaviours on the environment. We have seen the impact of lockdowns where animals arrived to our urban living spaces. We have seen the mounting evidence of climate change through extreme weather and rapidly melting icecaps, the collapse of our ecological systems and the prospect of further mass extinctions. Sustainability is at the forefront of consumers' minds.

Innovate with insights

Adapting products and services based on what competition is doing and instincts are useful sources for innovation, but speaking to customers too is good to add to the mix.

Covid has dramatically changed how people now buy products and how they discover products, going through e-commerce more than before Covid. Checking-in with customers by speaking with them to now see how they are using your products or services differently, or what they would like your products or services to help them with that it isn't doing already are insights you can use to innovate with. These insights can also test your assumptions about what you think of how your customers' needs have changed.

No-one really knows how long Covid is going to be here for, some predict at least the next 18 months, for example Professor Mark Woolhouse from the University of Edinburgh. Acting on insights for innovation would take into account what's feasible and viable for your business and if it is worth making any changes and how risky or resource-intensive changes may be.

An article you may be interested in: Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever

Now is the time to speak to your customers in times of crisis

Priorities are changing and buying behaviours are changing. We can see through different data sources such as Google Analytics how things are different, but nothing really beats talking to your customers to understand the 'why' as well as the 'what'.

You could speak to employees who regularly interface with customers to understand more about common queries. You could speak to existing customers to learn more about their recent experiences of using the product or service and how it could meet their changing needs.

Here is a recent paper about how to use design thinking to respond to crises that shows how taking a user-centred approach can help with innovation in crises.

Have you got in touch with your customers to see how their needs have changed or are changing?