The recession may have killed your Product-Market Fit

Hi there 👋,

Just because you had Product-Market Fit, it doesn’t mean you still have it.

We are all impacted as consumers when a recession rears its ugly head.

One change is obvious: budgets have to tighten. But that isn’t the only thing happening.

Consumer priorities have changed, and what they consider essential is different now.

So suddenly, you find it harder to get new customers in the door and to keep existing. Cancellation surveys are filled with responses like ‘price’, but is that the real reason?

Price can be “I don’t have the money”, which is fair enough with a cost of living crisis. But it can also mean, “I don’t value this enough anymore”.

Consumers keep products/services that are painkillers 💊; they solve a specific pain that is important in these times.

The vitamin products 🩹 that are nice to have, but not essential, to our daily routine get quickly ditched.

What does this mean for companies?

If the main reason customers used your product was as a 'vitamin' your Product-Market Fit may have shifted.

The good news

It is not all doom and gloom. If you originally had Product-Market Fit, it is unlikely that everyone has stood up and left in masses. It is more subtle; some people still love you and spend, whilst others don't.

You need to take some time to go back to the drawing board and work out who are still your raving fans. To do this look at the last 1-2 months of data and identify who:

• Keeps coming back

• Has a high average order value/lifetime value

• Are happy

These are your painkiller customers. It may feel too niche, but there are more people like that you have yet to reach because you haven’t focused on them solely or spoken their language.

The good news? Painkiller customers are likely to be less price sensitive.

How to understand your painkiller audience

Now it is time to set up user interviews with them and try to understand their Jobs to be Done (JTBD).

A JTBD is not what your customers buy but rather the change they wish to experience with your product/service. This is the reason you are a painkiller for them.

Three key questions to uncover this are:

1. What led you to try [brand]?

2. What is the main reason you use [brand]?

3. What would you miss the most if you could no longer use [brand]?

And then keep digging deeper into the underlying why behind it and what resonates with them.

By focusing on the needs of your most dedicated customers, you can create a more compelling value proposition and tailor your messaging to resonate better with them.

Then you figure out where they look to solve that JTBD and adjust your main persona to reflect them.

Basically: you can win your Product-Market Fit back 👊.

Recommendation

In every newsletter, I also share a related book, individual or newsletter to check out related to the week's topic.

I love niching down my audience; one book that helped me understand the importance and how to identify your fans is Superfans by Pat Flynn. It is an easy read filled with great examples and actionable advice.

Daphne

P.S. If you missed it, I launched my 12-Week Message-Market Fit Programme on Tuesday, which covers extensively how to do Jobs to be Done interviews with your customers.