When Customers Become Fans

The Chinese technology company Xiaomi cultivates a close connection with its customers through a product development process that invites user participation — as well as through social media and fan clubs.

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In less than six years, Beijing-based Xiaomi Inc. has become one of the world’s leading smartphone makers. One key factor is that the company offers its phones to customers in China at lower prices than competitors like Apple Inc. — and sells mainly via e-commerce to keep costs low.

But Xiaomi has done more than just keep costs down; it has also cultivated user pride through user-centered and open innovation, harnessing the energies of enthusiastic customers known as “Mi Fans.” Xiaomi actively involves “Mi Fans” in both software and hardware development processes. For example, Xiaomi’s Android-based user interface MIUI went through a fast-iteration development process. Xiaomi put the first version of MIUI online in August 2010 and set up an Internet forum to communicate with a group of tech-savvy users. In the first week, Xiaomi got 100 users who volunteered to test MIUI. Since then, Xiaomi has been releasing improved versions weekly for a group of its lead users. Customer involvement in the product development life cycle has not only helped Xiaomi reduce R&D costs but also enabled the company to cultivate a sense of participation and pride among tech-savvy lead users. They, in turn, spread the word to other users and generate enthusiasm about Xiaomi products.

Customer involvement in the product development life cycle has not only helped Xiaomi reduce R&D costs but also enabled the company to cultivate a sense of participation and pride among tech-savvy lead users.

Thanks to such enthusiasm, when Xiaomi was about to unveil its mobile phone in September 2011, there were already 300,000 MIUI users, many of whom then became the first batch of customers for the Xiaomi smartphone. Xiaomi has continued to cultivate user participation through its online platform, which by April 2014 had more than 10 million registered users, generating more than 1 million visits and more than 250,000 posts every day.

Xiaomi turns to the Internet as a major channel to communicate with its users. When the youth version of the Xiaomi phone was launched, Xiaomi designed a marketing poster that mimicked a popular movie but starred seven company executives. This poster was put on Xiaomi’s microblog page and reposted 2.0

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Comment (1)
Youngju Hong
I am really amazed this site and I think I will get the newest information and knowledge on IT.  I am Korean and living in Korea.  I am specially interested in Asian market.  Shaomi surprised us and is still surprising every month.  I am not a fan of Shaomi yet but I will be soon. 
I will try some products of Shaomi.