Tapping into Hidden Customer Needs
Professor Keith Goffin
Steve Macaulay Organisations are constantly looking for a product that will really sweep
the market, that will really meet customers’ needs and really gets hold of
the voice of the customer and match it exactly with an aspirational
product that people say, yes, this is for me.
Now let’s explore this a bit more. Professor Keith Goffin, you are a
Professor of Innovation, lots of knowledge and insight into the voice of
the customer; what have you got to say about this, Keith?
Keith Goffin
You might be somewhat surprised to hear this, Steve, but quite often we
are saying to companies, now, ignore the voice of the customer because
that whole idea that emerged essentially in the 80s of going to
customers, surveys, focus groups and asking what they want in a way has
been shown to be not very effective. Direct questions – customers
struggle to articulate what they really want– and what we are finding
these days is that there are a whole range of new techniques, which in
combination together get under the surface, they get beyond the
superficial customer looks at today’s product and says I essentially would
like it a bit faster, a bit cheaper, a bit lighter. They talk about today’s
products, incremental improvements to them.
If you are really trying to come up with breakthrough products, to get
through to a breakthrough product you have got to identify some
customers’ hidden needs and they can’t tell you that in response to
standard questions and in taking part in focus groups. There are other
approaches needed.
Steve Macaulay So how do you get inside people’s heads?
Keith Goffin
Well what you do need is to use various methods in combination and we
tend to take things like contextual interviews – that is, interviewing
people in their own homes or in the places where they use products and
services – observing them, videoing them. Doing detailed systematic
analysis of what you see on those videos, what you hear on those videos.
We also use techniques like repertory grid analysis from psychology; lead
user, where you get some of the most demanding users together and
what we do is we use these in combination. Each of the techniques gives
you another piece of the puzzle to understand what the customer wants,
which is very different to what they are actually going to tell you they
would like.
Steve Macaulay Give me some examples where this has really worked.
Professor Keith Goffin
Keith Goffin
A number of examples on that – Miele the German vacuum cleaner
company has been very successful at understanding the needs of
customers for vacuum cleaners, particularly on the segment of people
with allergies. What do they need? They have to clean more often.
They have come up with a product where there is an actual dust level
indicator – it is like a traffic light which tells you whether the floor you are
cleaning is clean enough to stop you getting your allergy. That was the
product that came out of this type of research. No customer said I would
like a vacuum cleaner with a dust level indicator, driven by electro static
principles – that wasn’t what they said, but they observed people using
vacuum cleaners of those who had allergies and realised that this was one
of the needs. That is the type of thing that will come from B to C –
business to consumer – but also B to B situations. There are lots of
examples where these help.
Steve Macaulay So is this set of techniques very common at the moment?
Keith Goffin
Occasionally people use one, but the real power comes from using a full
combination of these techniques; and whether you would get to that is
actually very seldom.
So it is emerging – leading organisations are starting to get interested in
this, learning how to use the different methods, use them in combination,
but using a full set in combination is very unusual at the moment, Steve.
Steve Macaulay So Keith, a final comment then that sums up the attitude to listening to
customers, to really getting a breakthrough product.
Keith Goffin
Well if your organisation is aiming to produce a breakthrough product, the
real message is then you are going to have to take the time and effort to
use these types of techniques. If your organisation wants to come up
with something different then it is well, well worth your organisation
investing in training your people in their techniques, using them in
combination and getting these insights into customers’ hidden needs.
Steve Macaulay And I guess that might be quite a challenge, but worth it. Thank you,
Keith.
Keith Goffin
Thank you, Steve.
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