Product matrix. What is it? How to do it? A detailed guide for marketers
Who should read this article and why?
This is an article about working with the product matrix for marketers. The article is specialized and detailed with examples and illustrations. I tried to write in understandable language, I hope it worked.
It will take quite a lot of time to get into it, so I recommend that you take a break or bookmark the article to return to it later.
And one more thing: everything that is written below only works if it is implemented, so it is best to immediately take and transfer these developments to your own projects.
The result of studying the article:
You will understand what a “product” is and what it is like for you
Find out what a product matrix is
You will gain an advantage over competitors who most likely do not do similar work
IMPORTANT!
Everything written in this article is based on working with the target audience. I described working with target audience earlier, so highly recommend start with this articlewhich examines in detail the intricacies of selecting future buyers.
Now let's go!
1. Introduction to the product line
What does the word “product” mean? What does it contain?
Do you know exactly what you or your client (if you are a marketer) are doing?
Can you tell us in 1-2 sentences what kind of product you have, so that you would want to buy it or at least find out more about it?
Why do people buy it? Why don't they buy?
How is a product different from a niche, brand, business?
Later in this article I will explain what Core Offer, TripWire and Lead Magnet are. These are the components of the product line.
Don't confuse warm with soft!
If I ask you what product you have, what will you tell me? Finance/Stretch ceilings/Fitness/Yoga…? This is not a product.
This is not about the product, but about the direction you are working in. When you answer in this way, you say: “I do fitness” or “I am a team installing suspended ceilings”, “I play the guitar”, etc. These are all areas of activity.
First, let’s separate “product” and “business”
When we say, for example, “Fitness,” we mean something like “I have a fitness center.” This is what business is. And this is the niche in which this business exists, because there may be other niches in the fitness industry, for example, trading in equipment for gyms or sports nutrition.
Now about the products. The fitness center may have a lot of them.
Yes, yes, a trial workout is also a product. Club cards are definitely a product, and this is the main product; all the resources of the fitness center are focused on it. But there can be much more products. Do you see in the picture just above the line “Areas invisible to the eye” and the number next to it? What's there?
But that's not all. Because each of these points is expanded further. For example like this:
Here everything is limited by the competencies that specialists can offer and the imagination of the business owner, who can add as many exotic and health categories as he likes.
And such immersion is possible for each of the product categories. And all these are different products within our big “box”.
You need to learn to look at such a decomposition not as something hypothetical, but to ask yourself the question “What products are there within my direction right now? What can you already offer?”
But you don’t have to stop only at offline products; there is also a whole layer of online directions. Moreover, in this case, each trainer can lead many more clients than he can do “face to face.” And, if this is not a webinar, but some kind of packaged information product, then there is generally no need for a specialist’s time after packaging, such a product can be sold en masse. There are also no geographical restrictions.
And all of this together is called the “commodity matrix”. This is simply the depth of product development. But that's not all, we're just getting started…
Components of any product
Just creating a bunch of different products without understanding what they are for is stupid. Every product should be intended for something, it should not exist just like that.
IMPORTANT:
Products have different purposes, they have their own goals. Not all products are designed to make money. That is, the final goal, of course, is money, but there are micro-stages that need to be “stitched” with certain products, and these products will help the client reach the purchase of the main product, and then to upsells, cross-sells, etc.
Upsell — It is a sales technique by which brands increase profits by motivating customers to purchase more upgraded and more expensive products from the same product line. Example: buy a premium card from our fitness club instead of a regular one, and you will have a personal trainer and access to the lounge area.
Cross cell — This is a marketing ploy to motivate customers to purchase additional goods or services. Example: you have already taken a card from our fitness club, and you may need our branded training kit (sports bag, towel, fitness bracelet and training gloves).
What is the product for?
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) – uhthen the cost of attracting a new client.
LTV (lifetime value) – This is the customer's life cycle. One of the most important indicators in marketing, with which you can understand the degree of customer interest in our product. LTV helps to calculate the amount of profit that we receive from one client over the entire period of our cooperation with him.
Sometimes it happens that the price of TripWire (a sample product, which I will talk about in detail later) already pays for the client's cost. In this case, the main product already generates profit minus the costs of attracting a client. For example, if attracting a client costs 150 rubles, while TripWire costs 200 rubles, and the main product costs 5,700 rubles, then the cost of the client is no longer included in these 5,700 rubles; the client paid off at the previous stage.
Ideally, we should have additional products that can bring us additional profit after purchasing the main product. For example, when a person buys an expensive smartphone model, he will almost certainly also buy a protective glass + case. Here the question is no longer “will he buy or not?”, but “will he buy from us or somewhere else?” The example described is a cross-cell.
User Value
Pain and pleasure
Let's look at “Classification 1” from the diagram using cars as an example. In this case, “to avoid pain” means that I need a means of transportation, because my need to get to my destination faster, and the need follows from pain, “I spend too much time on the road,” “I depend on public transport schedules, and this is not convenient for me”, “I want to move with greater comfort”, “I want to be alone on the road, because this is the time to relax or collect my thoughts, and the bustle distracts me”, etc. Then the solution to this particular need will be some kind of cheap and easy-to-maintain no-frills car, say, a Renault Logan.
If we consider the second motivation from “Classification 1”, i.e. receiving pleasure, then the needs will be different. They differ depending on the product and segment of the target audience, so let’s consider hypotheses of motivation for the premium segment. It’s clear that people don’t buy a Ferrari, Maserati or Rolls-Royce just to move faster, right? Why do they take them then? Probably, the needs may be the following: to show your status in society; to be involved in something that is considered a work of art; feel the opportunity to have something exclusive, etc. Here the pains will be something like this: “I think that I am not respected enough, while I think that expensive toys increase the level of respect, because… show that I can make big money.” But this is where the desire to have pleasure may stem from: “You can express yourself only through art, and anything can be art. I value worthy self-expression and want to be involved in it, so I will buy expensive paintings, exclusive items, designer clothes, etc., because this will emphasize my individuality and good taste.”
The conclusion from the above examples is that first you need to understand what to sell through: through pain or through pleasure? Sometimes it works out well, but sometimes it doesn’t. Selling an expensive car through the pain of “getting there faster” will not work, and a cheap car cannot be sold through the pain of “lack of respect and attention to oneself.” There is also no particular pleasure in traveling in a completely ordinary car, except perhaps in comparison with an uncomfortable minibus or with grandfather’s old “penny”.
Logic and emotions
Logical rationale for purchase: “I want to buy this product because 1,2,3…”
Emotional rationale for purchase: “I want to feel certain emotions”
With a logical rationale, everything is quite simple, but with an emotional one, difficulties can arise.
There is research showing that men need to explain to themselves why they need something before making a purchase, while women are more likely to buy on emotions first and then look for a logical justification for why they did it. This information is not here to point out any differences and reduce everything to the superiority of one sex over the other and that’s all. Personally, I see both advantages and disadvantages of both approaches; for me they are equal. It’s just that in the article I need to rely on something solid, tested experimentally on the largest possible statistical sample. Therefore, I propose to simply accept the convention that men buy more logically, and women more emotionally.
Both components must be present in the product offer, but which one will dominate needs to be found.
Returning to our example with cars, we can divide the audience into those who need to be told about the size of the engine, the time it takes to get up to 100 mph, the number of crash tests before releasing the car into mass production, etc. And there will be those who need to say something like this: “Let’s do this: I’ll now take the keys to the car, and you take your girl, and we’ll go for a ride. I'll take us to a deserted area and let you steer. You need to feel how this swallow picks up speed, turns and brakes. And by the face of your friend you will understand everything yourself.”
Price
Incorrect pricing will either reduce all the efforts we make to zero, because… the product simply will not sell if the price is too high, or we will greatly lose profit if the price is lowered. There are times when a low price brings with it the idea that cheap cannot be good, and this belief kills the product. So the price must be fair.
Price is not always about money. For example, in the case of a lead magnet (later I will explain this term in detail), a person exchanges for a product his own time spent studying this product (relevant for information business, for example) and often his contact information, and there may also be the use of his own social resources (here an example would be “share the link on social networks to receive…”). This is also an exchange, and it is important to understand this nuance.
Filling (product components)
Let's look at the points using the example of some information product, let's say there is a course on teaching meditation at home. Then like this:
Solving micro problems: get an algorithm for daily five-minute meditation that can be done anywhere. It will help you quickly calm down, collect your thoughts, prevent an incipient panic attack, and lift your spirits…
Satisfaction of desires: take the main course to develop your focus and do more, to reduce the overall amount of stress in your life, to increase your level of health and awareness, to build more harmonious relationships with others…
Set of amenities: You can pay for the course in parts if you don’t have the money to take it in its entirety; We will return the money spent if you don’t like the course; After each lesson there is homework, which is checked by the curator to make sure that you have mastered the material…
Resource spent on creating a product
An example of a product that crashes the system due to load would be some type of personal consultation. In this case, the entire burden falls on the consultant and is confined to him. The consultant himself is the “bottleneck” of the system, its narrowest part. And here the question is not only that in case of illness or burnout, income stops completely, there is also a limitation on throughput.
Let's say, if a consultation takes 1 hour, then in the most ideal case, if meetings are held online and not live, these meetings are not canceled or delayed, and the consultant does not take any breaks during the working day, then we will sell 8 units of product. Let's imagine that one meeting costs 5,000 rubles. And let’s also imagine that the consultant works seven days a week. We find that the maximum profit per month will be 5,000 × 8 x 30 = 1,200,000 rubles. This is the maximum limit, above which you cannot jump in any way.
Naturally, there won’t even be such an amount; it can be safely divided by 3. And this is profit, not income. After deducting all costs, the amount will decrease even more. And nothing can be done about this within the given conditions.
What can be done outside the framework? Obviously, you need to untie the product from a specific person. It needs to be unified. Make sure that such consultation can be carried out by any employees after training or immediately, but according to instructions. You can make a video recording of such a consultation on the most common questions or create an online test so that the client answers the questions online and immediately receives the result.
Yes, the listed solution options are not always appropriate, but here we have to decide whether we want to deal with a low-throughput product or whether we will promote something in-line?
For the consumer, the product is
Set/combination of goods/services/services/conditions/amenities
2. Product matrix
A lead magnet is needed so that those who come into contact with the product become leads (literally, those whom we lead to purchase our product). This is the only way to continue working with them. If a person does not become a lead (did not leave his contacts or did not get into the auto funnel where the bot interacts with him), then we lose him. And only retargeting or his repeated reaction to our advertising can bring such a person back.
In order for leads to become “warmed up” leads, i.e., more loyal to our product or more ready to purchase it, we need a tripwire (a sample product that will help a person decide to purchase the main product).
We make the main offer to the warmed-up audience. This is very logical, because those who need it and who trust it will buy. And by the time we offered the main product, we had done it all: we showed them how to solve problems using our product, and we gave them a few things to try to increase their trust. The lead is ready to become a client.
After selling the main offer, let's try to maximize profits (remember the example with the phone and its accessories?).
And at the very end we insert a return track (it is not shown in the picture). This path will help our customers update their smartphone, replace a cracked protective glass, or purchase an additional case from us if such a need arises in the future.
3. Summary
So, the stages of the funnel are a combination of the “Welcome chain” (when we lead a person from the first touch to the purchase of the main product and beyond) with our products. Each stage is a purchase or agreement to consume some unit of our product line.
What's next?
In the following articles I will analyze in detail each of the mentioned types of products:
Lead magnet
Tripwire
Main product
Profit Maximizer
Useful article? You can thank me in the comments 😉
