netpain

NET PAINSimple principle to understand why some products are great(er)

Wednesday, January 23, 13

This presentation just tries to help me be a better product manager and understand more thoroughly how all products work. It’s just a hack of a theory.. and in all likelihood, I’m not the one who actually invented it - even if I’m trying to coin this principle. Let me know what you think.


Why do some products make it and others don’t?


Better Timing? More Features? In all Channels? Better Brand? Right price?


No! .. because NET PAIN -principle, why.


Consumers will always opt for the product which totals

the least pain in net sum(compared to the

alternatives).


Pain of Acquiring a product Pain of Using a ProductPain Relieved by a Product

NET PAIN

++

=


Pain of acquiring.. a product is a sum of pain of all things that

need to happen before using it .. .. installation, discovery, sourcing, buying

options, costs, learning to use it, etc.


Pain of acquiring.. can be your obstacle to entering a market or your unfair advantage.


In concrete: Ferrari Italia relieves lots of pain by making driving enjoyable, but may be well beyond my pain-limits for a price of a car.


In concrete: For my need to unwind with great music - Spotify will beat buying a CD from a store, because it is way less painful.


In concrete: I might have the money and will to fly to the moon with a crew, but in case I can’t complete the training for it - I won’t be your target customer.


Pain of using.. a product is a a sum of pain related to .. .. its usability, how much it does for me

(integratedness, completeness) and how difficult it is to operate.


Pain of using.. can be your obstacle to entering a market or your unfair advantage.


In concrete: Integrated solutions beat

separate solutions any day, due to the pain and hassle

of operating multiple systems for completing a

task.


In concrete: Apple iOS won the market over for its lack of distracting features. It seemed less painful, because it was simple to use.


Pain relieved.. by a product refers to ..

.. sum of all painpoints it makes non-existent. It makes me feel relived. In other words: it’s the value product delivers by solving the problems it solves.


Pain relieved.. can also, be your obstacle to

entering a market or your unfair advantage.


In concrete: Your product might be at the best channels and for free - but if it doesn’t solve a problem, relive a pain, it will be worthless to me.


In concrete: Your product might be the most expensive and most difficult to get, but if it makes me feel good enough - I’ll make all sacrifices needed to own it.


In concrete: Your product might just make me feel better, even it lacks on other attributes in comparision to another product.


For a consumer to choose your product - it must deliver a positive score.

The way of valueing the level of pain - defines a market. For some markets, the pain related to acquring an expensive product is bearable - in

others it might not be.


To win hearts: optimize for least net pain.

To do it - you need to understand the pain your relieving (job your product does) and compare your proposition against

others in the market: do they solve more pain points than you do? are are they less painful to acquire? are they less painful to

use?

Or simply: think where can you reduce friction, to generate less pain? Streamlining will make your product more valuable. Or, if you need to add more pain in use or acquring - make sure you

really relive more pain after doing so.


Pain relieved by a product must be greater than the sum of pain it creates

while I use it and when I acquire it. More than that, the NET PAIN of your

product must bebetter than any competitors offer - for the consumer to

choose it.


Less pain the better, in net sum, that is.


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