Ensuring your product serves its primary, intended purpose should be a priority. Failure to do so can cause your business irreparable harm and erode consumer opinion and customer trust. You should always strive to ensure your product functions as it should.
Once you have guaranteed that your product serves its primary function, it is worth considering what kind of secondary benefits it could offer to customers. Many products have found uses far beyond what designers and manufacturers originally intended and have been repurposed in all kinds of weird and wonderful ways. Let’s take a look at some examples, to hopefully give you some inspiration on secondary benefits your product can offer.
Gaming
Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry with a global customer base. The advent of online multiplayer modes changed the face of gaming forever, opening the door for more immersive, social experiences. Social gaming is an awesome way to make new connections, with people finding long-term friends and even spouses through social gaming platforms. Developments and advancements in technology will continue to improve the social aspect of gaming, with the potential for VR integration in the future promising to open up even further interactive gaming experiences.
Microwaves
Microwaves were a cooking revelation, enabling quick meals for fast-paced modern lifestyles, and giving rise to a new phrase: ‘microwave dinners’. For all the benefits of speed and convenience they offer, microwaves have found other uses as well, beyond the culinary. They can be used to disinfect sponges and kitchen utensils (not metal ones!) and reinvigorate old, dried-up beauty products. Speaking of beauty products…
Beauty Products
Beauty products can be expensive, and unfortunately, have a shelf life. Improper storage can render them unusable too, there’s nothing more annoying than discovering you’ve left your mascara open and it’s all dried up. However, many beauty products can offer invaluable secondary benefits and be used to solve all sorts of household problems. Nail polish remover can be used to dissolve super glue, shaving cream can be applied to fix squeaky doors and hinges, and hair dryers can even be used to fix dents on cars.
Irons
Iron is a staple in any household, they keep you looking sharp for heading out to work each day. Their potential goes far beyond mere crease removal, though, and they can be used to perform a remarkable range of tasks. Use an iron to remove candle wax from fabric or chewing gum from clothes, restore a dented or heat-stained wooden table, laminate photos, or, if your microwave is too busy restoring old makeup, use your iron to cook bacon or make a cheese toastie.
Conclusion
Successful product design and manufacturing is a process of trial and error. Creating a product that meets the needs of the customer while remaining cost-effective and attractive to its target demographic is a careful balancing act that, when executed correctly, will see you reap the rewards.
While secondary benefits your product can offer might seem like an afterthought, they can significantly increase the value and practicality of the product in the eyes of your customer, which will help boost your brand’s reputation and image. Some alternative uses for household products come as a result of ingenuity and creative thinking, while some unexpected additional benefits are discovered as products are developed through the integration of new technology.