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3 Tips for Showing Value in the Tech You Build

5 MINUTE READ | April 24, 2019

3 Tips for Showing Value in the Tech You Build

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Abeer Thomson

Abeer Thomson has written this article. More details coming soon.

Have you ever created technology you found to be amazing but no one used it? You see a tremendous amount of value in the tech but you just can’t seem to get your users to consistently use what you’ve created. This is a common problem I’ve seen at companies that build tech internally and for clients. Let’s talk about how we combat this and really show the value in the tech we’ve built.

showing value in tech

The way you showcase your technology is one of the most important pieces to getting buy-in from your potential users. Think of this as your opportunity to give your technology a first impression. When you meet someone for the first time, there are various factors that determine your first impression of that person. What if there was a way for you to control all the factors that went into that first impression? Sign me up.

Focus on showing the value of your technology versus trying to sell how amazing your tech is. When you take a step back and look at key features, examples, and the potential your tech has for users, that’s when you start to get buy-in.

Let’s look at the value of Netflix for instance.

  • Key features – A ton of show/movies available to stream along with curated suggestions.

  • ExamplesIncredibles 2 available for streaming now.

  • Potential – Tons of new content is getting created just for Netflix.

When you breakdown Netflix like this, you can start to see what value the product has to consumers. Now it’s easy to do this with a brand that is known worldwide. What if you are just trying to show a colleague the value of a small or large piece of tech you built them to make their life easier? This is something I have to do a lot.

Let’s talk about each piece in a little bit more depth to help you define what the value proposition is for your product.

Before you start listing off all the possible features your technology has, let’s all take a breath. Realistically, this is what we are most excited about so it’s easy for us to start explaining to someone the vast number of features we have built.

Think of your audience here and remember the message you are trying to get across. What are the features that your users (not you!) would get most excited about? What are some game-changing features that they may not know about but should understand? These are the type of questions you really want to ask yourself to determine what features to really showcase.

Once you have identified your key features, describe each feature with just a few bullet points. This allows you to have a conversation about the features versus forcing the user to digest a ton of information about those features.

2. Show Examples


Featuring examples of how your technology has actually been used can be one of the most beneficial tactics when showing its value. People love to see how other people are using technology. This gets new users excited about the product and allows them to immediately start speculating if this particular example would work for them.

You may be thinking, “we’ve got so many examples, how could I just pick one?” This is a great problem to have! Look at the specific examples that are going to resonate with your audience. Try to choose about two or three that tell a very clear story. Maybe you are trying to show the value of each feature you pointed out, which in that case, make sure your example ties back to that feature somehow.

The examples you show should cover three points: the problem, the solution, and the result. Don’t you love to hear stats on how a technology benefited users? By keeping your example simple, your audience is able to follow the story and relate it to what they are trying to solve.

3. Demonstrate Potential


I’m sure you have tons of features on the roadmap for your product. Maybe it’s a small piece of tech that you plan on scaling out later. This is all great news! But a potential user mostly cares about what is possible today.

This may seem like a repeat of key features and it can be if you don’t work to relate the product back your audience. This is actually my favorite part. Think of how this piece of technology could help your users. Maybe they have always done things a certain way and you are trying to break their routine. What are some potential use cases for them if they were to use your technology?

One of the best ways to show a user the potential for a technology is to create a proof of concept or demo for them. Encourage your audience to imagine themselves using the product immediately. What could that look like for them? This could be something visual directly in the platform or a potential output.

When a user can see the potential in a technology right away, they start to imagine using the product themselves. At this point, your users will see the tremendous value your tech has and its impact.

Finally, you want to remember to speak their language. It’s easy to get into the weeds of your technology, especially if this is something you built personally. But if you start to lose them with all the technical jargon, it’s very likely they will believe this product is too difficult for them to use and not give it a chance. And that is what we are trying to avoid.

Break down your technology into the three areas we talked about all while staying on the same level as them. This allows you to truly show the value of your tech in a way that is easily digestible for all levels of users.

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