LaunchTip:

What Makes a Product a Bestseller?

Throughout my career, I’ve invested a great deal of time and energy thinking about the characteristics of a bestselling product; service; idea. Why is that sometimes people are compelled to spread the word about what you are doing but in other cases, not? What is it exactly that creates this kind of viral resonance that people grab on to with passion and enthusiasm and ultimately act as evangelists to some things and not others?

After conducting my own person study and analysis around this, I’ve come to the following conclusion: It’s the feeling you leave people with that counts. That’s right: the “feeling.”

How do you leave this feeling? What is required?

Interestingly, I’ve decided that what it amounts to is leaving lasting impressions. Surprisingly, however, it is not necessary to do this in every respect. In other words, perfection on every level is actually not required to achieve success. If you are simply able to leave impressions “in pieces” or in “key places” or in certain “critical” ways, then you are probably on the road to achieving stardom in some regard for what are offering.

Think of a product you love or a brand that resonates: take Nike or Target as examples. Do you love every product they sell? The answer is likely, “No.” But you probably love one product very much, or one aspect of a product or one element of the brand—the cushion of the shoe; the Mossimo brand at Target. It could be a signature element (something everyone else loves too), or it could be something entirely different, but there is something about their offer that leaves you coming back for more, but more importantly, telling all your friends.

I read somewhere that when movies are being tested/watched by the inner circle to gauge their success, producers believe the sign of an instant success is if the inner circle members leave the movie repeating something about it, e.g. You had me at Hello; Here’s looking at you kid.

Think about a great party; probably not every aspect of the party was stellar—maybe the food was mediocre or the decorations sub-par—but you thought the party was great, regardless. Why? Did you have one interesting conversation or several? Was that enough for you leave with that “feeling” of greatness; with that feeling of wanting to re-engage that dialogue and repeat it to others?

In any case, perhaps the same can be said for your product or service, so ask yourself, what is that people are left wanting to repeat? And then you know you have a winner.