Your Secret Weapon to Saving Time and Money
Sometimes what you believe your customers want isn’t what they actually need. And no, we’re not singing the Rolling Stones blues here. We’re talking about what you learn when you listen to your customers’ views and perceptions first and then confirm the identified need before jumping to full-blown execution of a new technology, or starting up an extensive marketing campaign.
Using hands-on assessment of customers’ views enables you to verify not only that you are meeting the customers’ conceptual need, but most critically, meeting them in real world terms. This can help avert wasted development resources and a fair amount of frustration.
How do you really hear and understand the “Voice of the Customer”?
Read on as we share an example from working with one of our clients.
A market leading medical device manufacturer was ready to lock down design and launch a next generation device into the top tier market segment. The design team wanted to compile functional acceptance data for the device prototype, and the marketing team wanted to validate the positioning of the device as superior, but no less than comparable to their existing device. Both groups were operating from foregone conclusions about function and positioning based on internal marketplace “knowledge”.
This is where we came in and provided seasoned marketing counsel combined with qualitative and quantitative prototype evaluation to test both perceived value/perception of the new device attributes plus real world usability.
Method
Through the use of qualitative interviews and an associated quantitative survey conducted in multiple cities, a detailed picture of the customers’ true wants and needs, prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives, was gathered. In this case, the customers were experienced, high volume, users—a mix of private, public health, and hospital medical specialists.
Results
As it turned out, most fortunately before any final market moves were made, the response to the prototype was actually contrary to the expected outcome. The quantitative findings indicated strong reservations. Nearly three quarters of the participants expressed clearly articulated concerns regarding the design of the device’s main functional attribute. The users “real world” feelings were also captured by recording their actual usage of the device in carefully structured focus groups. Initial impressions were also captured prior to hands-on usage, which provided additional insight into the customers’ perceptions that the device was surprisingly perceived to be, awkward and complicated looking. Even more shocking was the perception that the new prototype was perceived as a step backwards” in technology. These realizations help this client avert a real disaster.
As this example illustrates using the Voice of the Customer approach during development and go to market decision processes for products, services, or even marketing campaigns can help you make better decisions, and be your secret weapon to saving time and money in the long run.
We hope you’ve benefited from our client experience. Be sure to join the conversation and let us know what you think!