Customer Co-Creation Loop
Turn close customer relationships into continuous product decisions
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 94%
The Customer Co-Creation Loop makes customer contact a recurring part of product development rather than a one-time survey. The company recruits a small group of highly engaged users, asks for input before finalizing formulas or names, tests developing products with them, and also observes their behavior on owned channels. The team converts useful signals into a product, message, or experience change, then shows contributors how their input mattered. Recognition can include naming products after customers or inviting them into community events, which strengthens future participation. Bodnar describes texting around 100 customers before naming a product or finalizing a formula, using website behavior for directional feedback, and developing shades from customer suggestions. The loop improves decisions while building relationships that can generate advocacy and continued insight.
Origin
Bodnar built Thrive's early online community one person at a time and kept many of those customers close. She still texts roughly 100 customers before finalizing formulas or product names.
Core principles
- 01Customers are active product collaborators
- 02Frequent direct contact beats distant assumptions
- 03Feedback should shape formulas, names, and experiences
- 04Recognition strengthens the relationship that produced the insight
How to run it
- 1
Recruit engaged users
Choose customers who use the product, communicate clearly, and care enough to respond repeatedly.
Pro tip Start with a small group whose behavior you know rather than a large anonymous panel.
Watch out Enthusiasm alone does not make one customer representative of the whole market.
- 2
Ask before locking
Request input while formulas, names, shades, or experiences can still change.
Watch out Feedback collected after the decision becomes validation theatre.
- 3
Observe behavior
Pair conversations with directional evidence such as where customers engage or become confused on the website.
Pro tip Use behavior to form questions, not to pretend you know a visitor's intent.
- 4
Translate signals
Identify repeated needs and turn them into a specific product or communication decision.
Pro tip Separate a recurring pattern from one person's preference.
- 5
Close the loop
Tell customers what changed and recognize the people whose insight materially shaped the result.
Pro tip Recognition can be personal without making unsupported claims that one person represents everyone.
- 6
Repeat continuously
Keep the group close for the next formula, name, shade, or experience rather than treating the interaction as a campaign.
Watch out Do not contact customers only when the company wants promotion.
In the wild
A customer repeatedly asked for a lilac eye brightener and sent Bodnar flower photos to guide the shade. Thrive created the color and named the product after that customer.
→ Customer insight shaped both the product specification and its story.
Bodnar says she texts about 100 customers before naming a product or finalizing a formula, preserving direct feedback even after the company became large.
→ Product decisions retain a recurring customer evidence channel.
Common mistakes
Collecting feedback too late
Customers cannot co-create a decision that the company has already made and refuses to change.
Confusing one fan with the market
Close relationships produce rich signals, but teams still need repeated patterns before generalizing.
Is it for you?
Best for
Consumer brands with direct access to engaged customers and repeated product decisions.
Not ideal for
Products where confidentiality, safety, or regulation prevents early customer involvement.
From the transcript
“I have a hundred of them that I will text before ever naming a product or finalizing a formula”
“we're always testing products as we're developing them with our customers”
“the agility to update different things on your website as you learn from consumers is really key”
From the episode
Karissa Bodnar, Thrive Causemetics Founder: Entrepreneurship Gave Me The Freedom To Donate $150M in Value to Over 500 Charities
Karissa Bodnar