• Making the product easy to use can be a powerful marketing strategy with multiple benefits. 
• Ease of use can provide an edge for the maker in today’s competitive environment. 

The “Make the Product Easy to Use” marketing strategy aims to prioritize user-friendliness in product development, enticing target audiences. Through this strategy, makers can attract customers who value intuitive interfaces, clearer instructions, and a smoother overall experience.

Makers must design the product to be easy to use, understand, and navigate, especially for the target audience. If done correctly, this strategy can lead to increased sales, customer acquisition, satisfaction, and brand loyalty while reducing the underlying support costs. 

Moreover, makers must prioritize understanding their target audiences’ needs and technical skills. At the same time, the product design should be transparent and predictable and follow standard design practices.  Focus on smoothening the learning curve and make the onboarding process welcoming. 

How Canva Successfully Incorporated the “Make the Product Easy to Use” Marketing Strategy? 

Canva is a web-based design platform that empowers people to create multiple graphic design projects easily. Its success hinges on making graphic design accessible to everyone, everywhere. Plus, they’ve successfully implemented the “Make the Product Easy to Use” marketing strategy in more ways than one.

Intuitive Interface

To implement ease of use, Canva uses a drag-and-drop system to eliminate the complexity of traditional design software. Users can easily add elements, texts, images, and design elements to their designs without prior knowledge, making the product easy to use for anyone, anywhere. 

Plus, the platform offers a huge library of pre-designed templates for various purposes, like social media posts, presentations, web images, posters, etc. These templates act as a starting point for new designers and ensure consistency in designing elements. Anyone can use these templates in either free or paid format to create desired outcomes. 

The editing tools embedded within Canva are straightforward to understand. Users can easily resize elements, change fonts and colors and apply engaging effects with just a few clicks. This ease of use makes the design platform a better choice for beginners and avid designers. 

Focus on User Education

Besides facilitating ease of use, Canva also embedded many tutorials and guides within the platform. These resources cover various design topics and software functionalities, helping users learn new skills and get the most out of the design platform. 

The Canva’s Design School is a dedicated platform which offers free design courses on multiple topics. These courses are designed and perfected for beginners eager to learn the basics of design or looking for options to explore specific design areas. 

Leveraging the Freemium Model

Canva leverages the freemium model and offers a free plan with many features, including templates, stock photos, editing tools, etc. It allows anyone to try the platform and create basic designs without financial commitment. The freemium model does more than mitigate the financial responsibility and open doors for the designing world. 

The paid plans offer additional features like premium templates, stock photos and the ability to create brand kits for consistent design across projects. This allows the platform to cater to more advanced users and businesses who value such features. However, the free version is robust enough for many users to get started, and eventually, they see the value before upgrading. 

Streamlining the Design Workflow

Canva also offers the opportunity of real-time collaboration on designs, making it easy for teams to collaborate on projects regardless of their physical location. Plus, the designs can be easily shared via social media, email, or a link, further enhancing its capabilities. Additionally, Canva allows users to explore designs in various formats and cater to different needs. 

By focusing on the “Make the Product Easy to Use” strategy, Canva successfully created a user-friendly platform allowing anyone to create a professional-looking design without needing extensive design knowledge. Instilling this ease of use has significantly influenced the design platform’s explosive growth and success. 

What is the “Make the Product Easy to Use” Marketing Strategy? 

In today’s competitive landscape, consumers can choose from multiple options in almost every category or segment. If the makers prioritize making the product easy to use, they can have a chance to stand out from the crowd and become a powerful differentiator.

The strategy heavily emphasizes user-friendliness, making it a core selling point. It can attract customers who value an intuitive interface, clear instructions, a smoother learning curve and a better overall user experience. For example, Apple is known for its intuitive User Interface and focuses on enhancing user experience. 

Core Principles of the Strategy

The core focus must be on understanding users’ needs, knowing the target audience’s pain points and technical proficiency, and using these aspects to design the product with their comfort in mind. Going forward, they should strive to provide a user interface (UI) that is clear, predictable, and follows established conventions. 

Ensure that users can navigate and complete the tasks without extensive training. Focus on keeping the learning curve gentle, minimizing complex jargon, using clear language, and prioritizing features users will need most frequently. Makers can also provide readily available support, such as in-app tutorials, FAQs, and clear documentation, as helpful resources. 

They can work on providing various learning formats, such as text, videos, and interactive elements, to cater to their preferences. If they ensure a smooth flow from onboarding to using advanced features, they can facilitate a seamless User Experience (UX). Remember, the transitions between functionalities should be intuitive and logical. 

Marketing Tactics for Success

Even if the product is made with ease of use in mind, if makers fail to market these aspects, it’s of no use. Hence, during marketing, makers must emphasize user-friendliness in their marketing materials and use clear, concise language and visuals that showcase the product’s intuitive features. 

Furthermore, they can showcase positive feedback from customers who appreciate the product’s simplicity. Focusing on benefits can be done by framing ease of use as a benefit that saves time, reduces frustration, and empowers users to achieve desired goals. If done appropriately, users would subtly compare your product’s user-friendliness to competitors’ complex offerings. 

Pros and Cons of “Make the Product Easy to Use” Marketing Strategy

Like every other marketing strategy, this “Make the Product Easy to Use” strategy comes with its pros and cons, as discussed below. 

Pros

A user-friendly product has the potential to attract a wider audience, including those with less technical knowledge, and it can significantly increase your customer base. Easy-to-use products are simpler to learn and adapt, leading to quicker user onboarding and higher engagement.

Users who can navigate and complete tasks efficiently tend to be less frustrated and more likely to be satisfied with the product. Intuitive products require less customer support as users can troubleshoot issues themselves or find answers through readily available resources. 

Positive user experiences help build trust and loyalty, encourage repeat purchases, and foster positive word-of-mouth marketing. In today’s crowded market, user-friendliness can be a key differentiator, attracting customers who prioritize ease of use and allowing businesses to achieve desired results. 

Cons

Focusing solely on ease of use might require sacrificing some advanced and required features. This could limit the product’s appeal to power users who crave more functionality. Some users associate straightforward products with lower value compared to more complex offerings in the market.

Also, creating an intuitive and user-friendly product might require additional investment in user interface and user experience (UI/UX) compared to a more basic product. This strategy might only suit some products, as complex products catering to niche audiences with specific technical expertise could benefit from a different marketing approach. In conclusion, the “Make the Product Easy to Use” marketing strategy can be a powerful tool and provide a competitive edge to the makers while ensuring that the product meets the users’ needs and desires. Makers need to work on user-centric design, minimize complexity, provide a seamless experience, etc., and highlight these aspects in marketing messages for success.