Not Sure What To Launch Next? Start Talking to Your Customers
Fatema Raja, a brand and product strategist who previously led design at Gojek, argues in this essay that the reviews, DMs and complaints a business already receives are free product research. She traces how the Indian bag brand Zouk, by her account, shaped its bestselling office bag and its newest line from customer calls and repeated feedback. Her most practical rule: one complaint is customer service, but the same complaint forty times is a product brief, so start counting. The examples come from Indian consumer brands, but the method needs no research budget and can work for a maker or shop owner anywhere.
- For
- Small product makers, shop owners and creative entrepreneurs deciding what to make or stock next, especially those without a budget for formal customer research.
- Cost
- No price stated by the provider. The full essay was publicly readable on Fatema Raja's Substack newsletter, Layer by Layer, when retrieved; the page invites readers to subscribe.
- Access
- Open to anyone with internet access. No sign-up was required to read the essay at the time of retrieval.
Your moveRead the essay, then pull the last few months of reviews and DMs, tally the questions or complaints that keep coming up, and call a few repeat customers before you commit to your next product.
Start here