Successful products are either loved or needed. How about both?

Ted Leonsis has said that a successful product is either loved or needed.

Your electricity provider is needed.

Your Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla is needed.

Airlines are needed. They certainly aren't loved right now.

Snapchat is loved but not needed.

Medium is loved. We didn't really need another blogging platform, did we?

Tesla is loved; you really don't have to spend that much money on a car to get you from point A to B.

The magic happens when your product is needed and loved.

Companies like Southwest, Slack, and T-Mobile have cracked that code.

Southwest has created a culture where they treat their customers well and make flying enjoyable.

Slack has built an amazing enterprise communications product that everyone is addicted to.

Even though its cell connectivity isn't the best, T-Mobile just keeps coming up with ways to lure its competitors' customers away and keep current customers around.

Even if your product is boring and unsexy, there are many ways that you can make it both needed and loved.

Add some personality to your microcopy. Make customer service central to your company. Be transparent.

There are plenty of ways to achieve both.

How are you making your products and services both needed and loved? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.