When we talk about social impact, we often think of NGO projects, public policies or community intervention programs. However, the products we consume can also generate positive changes in people's lives. Companies, entrepreneurs and organizations develop products with the aim of improving our daily lives in different dimensions such as health, education, mobility, accessibility, security and many more.

When evaluating its social impact, not only its commercial success is measured, but also its ability to transform the reality of its users. This allows:

The promise of value as social impact

Every product or service that is positioned as a solution to a social problem or an improvement in the quality of life carries with it a promise of value. However, just because a product has the potential to generate impact does not mean that it will actually do so. Evaluating their impact allows confirming whether the promise of value made in the design and marketing can be translated into a benefit for both those who sell them and their customers.

Companies that market products that promise to change lives by solving everyday needs can ask themselves these key questions:

**• **Is the product reaching the people who need it most?, reach is measured here ** • **Are users really using it as expected?, function is measured here ** • **Is it generating the change it promised?, impact is measured here **• **Does it have unwanted or unexpected effects?, impact is measured here

Do not confuse reach with impact

Many companies confuse reach with impact. They measure the number of units sold or distributed, but they do not investigate whether they are really managing to improve people's lives as they promise. The difference between impact and reach is that reach indicates how many people are 'touched' by a product, while impact shows the actual changes that occur in their lives as an effect of using that product. Although both concepts are important, understanding and differentiating them is crucial to (re)design, market and improve any product.

For example, a company may sell 10,000 water filters and claim that it has improved access to drinking water. However, if many families do not use the filters correctly or prefer to continue boiling the water due to mistrust of the product, the real impact is much less than the sales numbers indicate.

Benefits of evaluating the social impact of a product

Companies that, in addition to measuring their achieved sales, measure the impacts of their products have different benefits:

1. Generate more sales A product that demonstrates its social impact has a competitive advantage in the market.** When a company can support with evidence that its product improves lives, it has more powerful tools for its marketing**. This not only attracts consumers, but also builds brand loyalty and trust. For example, if a company sells shoes that promise to reduce the appearance of blisters and has evidence that its customers were able to experience this, it can use that narrative in its advertising and differentiate itself in the market. Social impact is not only an added value, but a sales engine when communicated effectively.

1. Validate its effectiveness If a product is sold with the promise of making an impact, it is crucial to prove that it actually does so. Evaluating its impact allows us to demonstrate with data that it is fulfilling its purpose and generate transparency between clients, users and distributors. For example, if a company that sells tiles promises an improvement in the thermal insulation and 'warmth' of a space, the only way to validate it is by measuring whether users really perceive and/or experience it that way.

2. Improve product design All products must be constantly improved in order to remain current in the market. A well-done assessment can reveal barriers to use, design limitations, adoption issues, or necessary adjustments to the business model. For example, if a company sells eco-friendly stoves to reduce firewood use and improve air quality in homes, but finds that families are not using them because they are difficult to clean, it can redesign them to make them more functional.

3. Avoid unintentional damage Not all products generate only positive impacts. A poorly designed or poorly implemented product can create problems that were not anticipated. Assessing their impact helps detect these negative effects before they escalate and materialize legal and public relations risks. For example, if a microcredit platform promises to improve the financial stability of low-income families, but in practice it generates over-indebtedness, the real impact may be negative and in the word of mouth the business may become unsustainable.

4. Attract investment Companies that can demonstrate with evidence that their products generate impact have greater opportunities to attract investors and strategic partners. All investors are attracted to projects and products that are capable of proving that the money invested generates real changes in their users. A rigorous assessment of a product's social impact may be the key to accessing these capital resources.

5. Justify your scalability If a product demonstrates that it generates impact in a market segment, it becomes more viable to scale it to new areas or audiences. Without data on its effectiveness, expansion may be a risk. For example, if a mobile home application manages to improve the leisure time of people in a specific neighborhood, then it has a solid foundation to expand to other areas.