This week’s focus: I never realised how annoying wallets were until I came across the company, Bellroy. I inadvertently clicked onto their website last week and was immediately captivated by how I could get rid of the clutter in my wallet, reduce its bulk and make it easier and more comfortable to carry around.

Marketing teams talk about finding your customers ‘unmet needs’ but I don’t think that’s a helpful term – it’s too abstract to lead to action.  Instead, I recommend that you identify the ‘unconscious annoyances’ your customers have and the unspoken compromises they make.

Wallets have been around for millennia and yet Bellroy have managed to produce truly innovative products by focusing on frustrations that I – and probably most other men – have never explicitly articulated. A few clicks after visiting their website I had spent £89 and am now the proud owner of a travel wallet that can carry my cards, cash, tickets and passport and still fit in my back pocket. I am surprisingly and somewhat ridiculously pleased with my purchase!

What are your customers’ ‘unconscious annoyances’ and how could you innovate your products and services by addressing them?

Off the record: Everything Is Average Nowadays by The Kaiser Chiefs

Everyone would do it if they can

And everything is going down the pan

And everyone is following the craze

And everything is average nowadays

© Stuart Cross 2013. All rights reserved.