Many businesses struggle not because the product is bad,
but because they don’t know who they are really building for.

A single business often has three different people involved:

• the user

• the buyer

• the customer

Confusing them leads to bad decisions.

Users are the ones who use the product

Users interact with what you build.

They care about:

• Ease of use

• Speed

• Comfort

• Experience

They give feedback, complaints, and feature requests.

But users don’t always pay.

Buyers are the ones who pay

Buyers make the payment decision.

They care about:

• Price

• Value for money

• Risk

• Justification

A buyer may never touch the product personally.

Customers are the relationship

Customers are not just users or buyers.
They are the ongoing relationship with your business.

Customers care about:

• Trust

• Reliability

• Support

• Consistency over time

A business survives on customers, not transactions.

Where most businesses go wrong

Common mistakes:

• Optimizing only for users, ignoring buyers

• Chasing buyers, disappointing users

• Treating one-time buyers as long-term customers

This creates friction:

• Great product, no sales

• Good sales, poor retention

• Growth without loyalty

A simple way to think about it

• User → “Is this easy and useful?”

• Buyer → “Is this worth paying for?”

• Customer → “Do I trust this business again?”

All three questions must have good answers.

One simple rule to remember

If you don’t know who pays, who uses, and who stays,
you don’t yet understand your business.

Clarity here saves years of confusion later.