6 Lessons pharmacy can learn from the tech sector

1. Customers don’t always know what they want

Let’s get this one out the way early because it’s not a particularly new one. The simple fact is that if you’re waiting for people to ask for an innovation then you’ll be waiting a very long time. You’ve probably heard the quote before from Henry Ford about the faster horse (if not, give it a Google 😉). Even with the average person’s tech literacy reaching new heights all the time, we can still assume that people don’t really take the time to think about their day-to-day problems with a critical lens.

There’s no greater illustration of this than the standard adoption curve (pictured below courtesy of Appcues.com). It’s one of those weird-but-true human behaviour things that just keeps being proven right time and time again. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, there will be some level of alignment with this distribution across your customer base.

That top two(ish) percent are your innovators. They will be sold on whatever new-fangled thing you’re doing simply because it’s new. They get a rush from being on the forefront of innovation and they embrace the potential bugs and hiccups, seeing it as all a part of the experience. Your next 15%, the early adopters, might need a bigger nudge than the innovators, but they’ll be the ones who you need on board to make a new idea fly. The rest will take their sweet time to different extents – right through to the laggards who see holding on to the ‘old ways’ as a badge of honour.

Just look at the apprehension that is being felt by the vast majority of your customers. Listening to what your customers want is absolutely crucial. That said, if you are only listening to the majority then, on balance, you’re unlikely to be mining new, innovative ways of doing things. The tech industry is leading the world in innovation because they’re listening to the folks who want new stuff. The result is a cascading uptake of the new normal as the innovators influence the early adopters, the early adopters influence the early majority and so on.

In short, if you wait for your customers to ask for something new, chances are you’re already playing catchup. If it’s common enough for you to hear it from multiple customers, then it’s already reaching that early to late majority. You know your business better than anyone – so trust your gut and listen to that top 2% when it comes to change.

2. Innovation needs to be visible

Whatever it looks like in practice, you need to make sure your innovative efforts are visible to your customers if you want to use it to grow your business. The age of “build it and they will come” died along with flip phones and tape decks. If you’re doing something a bit different, tell people about it! So many businesses fall short of their goals because they don’t have a solid plan for communicating their achievements to the world.

Apple was one of the first to really do a fantastic job of this with their World Wide Developers Conference. This is a standout model for a couple of reasons. First, tying back to point number one above, it’s pitched at developers who are tech savvy and interested in developing apps and software for Apple devices. To put it another way, this conference is pitched at Apple’s 2%. They’re not trying to appeal to their whole audience – just the ones who are their biggest advocates and who want the latest and greatest as soon as possible.

Secondly, they’re making their new features larger than life by turning what could have been a simple email announcement or ad campaign into a spectacle. What’s more, the spectacle is centred around education. They have thousands of people eagerly tuning in to not only be sold on the benefits of their latest products, but they’re building loyalty and connection with their business by educating these innovators on how to best use the new thing. The result? A highly engaged group of people who will then go out an evangelise about Apple’s stuff. And here’s the kicker – they’re doing all the selling on Apple’s behalf for FREE!

Okay, so maybe you’re not going to host a big conference for your local business, but you can apply the same principles. When you consider the scale and the end result of the above event, does a wine and cheese night really seem that outrageous to talk about your new home delivery service? Telling people about your hard work is just as important as the work itself and the more you can incentivise your customers to listen, the better.

3. Experience is everything

It should be pretty self-evident from point two that making a great experience plays a big role in building a successful and innovative business, but let’s dive into that a little deeper. Far more important than the nuts and bolts of popular technology is the experience that it facilitates. It’s crucial that you give some thought to how people will interact with your business’ offering rather than focusing just on the core product or service.

Tesla is a great example of this with their electric vehicles. They’ve got a significant focus on creating a vehicle that feels futuristic. From the design, the security features like keyless and even handle-less entry, through to simple solutions to common problems such as dog mode. There are a whole bunch of electric cars out there now, but Tesla stays a cut above by putting effort into the experience of driving and owning one of their vehicles.

This has been the hallmark of successful businesses, big and small, for a very long time. Just think of Harrods, the iconic department store or even McDonalds with its trademark sticky floors and questionable ball pit. The point is that what you are selling matters a lot less than how you craft the experience for your customers. Make it memorable and aligned with what your customers want and you’ll be onto a long term winner for sure.

4. Build an emotional connection with your customers

The dream state for most businesses is for people to instinctively choose them over other brands, simple because it feels right. The marketer in me would call this “heuristic decision-making factors.” This described all the reasons that people buy stuff which have little or nothing to do with the product’s features or benefits.

This phenomenon is extremely common when it comes to tech, largely because consumers have relatively little knowledge about how their techy gadgets work. Sure, we could all be Googling what a retina display really is, or comparing benchmark performance scores for laptop processors – and some customers will do exactly that. More likely though, people fall back on non-factual information to make their decisions.

This is why you will get people who have their favourite brand of smartphone and they stick with it until they die (or the company goes out of business). This can also happen at the other end of the spectrum, where people will refuse to buy a specific brand because they perceive it as overpriced, or poor quality, even if the product they end up with is technologically inferior.

If you can tap into these emotional drivers for your customers then you’ll be in a position to create significant upside for your business. If you’re a service provider, you can easily insert little tweaks to make that experience better for your clients. In a retail context, you’re unlikely to have a whole lot of control over the products themselves. Instead, your focus can be on the experience associated with accessing your products.

The key is to find the levers which will get people feeling a strong (and ideally positive) emotion. Maybe it’s a little gift with each sale, or a delightful origami business card. The what will depend on your customers but the goal is the same: create an emotional tie to your business that draws your customers back without them even thinking about it.