Identifying Customer Needs

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Chapter 4 Ulrich and Eppinger

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Goals
• Ensure product is focused on customer needs
• Identify both explicit and latent/hidden needs
• Provide fact base for justifying product
  specifications
• Create archival record of the needs activity
• Ensure no critical customer need overlooked
• Team understands customer needs

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Customer Needs Process

• Define the Scope
• Mission Statement
• Gather Raw Data
• Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Observation
• Interpret Raw Data
• Need Statements
• Organize the Needs
• Hierarchy
• Establish Importance
• Surveys
• Quantified Needs
• Reflect on the Process
• Continuous Improvement

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Project Definition
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Customer Needs ExampleCordless Screwdrivers
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Mission StatementExample Screwdriver Project

• Product Description
• A hand-held, power-assisted device for installing
  threaded fasteners
• Key Business Goals
• Product introduced in 4th Q of 2000
• 50 gross margin
• 10 share of cordless screwdriver market by 2004
• Primary Market
• Do-it-yourself consumer
• Secondary Markets
• Casual consumer
• Light-duty professional
• Assumptions
• Hand-held
• Power assisted
• Nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable battery
  technology
• Stakeholders
• User
• Retailer
• Sales force

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Identifying Customer Needs

• The process
• Gather raw data from customers
• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Organize needs into a hierarchy (primary,
  secondary, etc.)
• Establish relative importance of each need
• Reflect on the results and the process

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Gather raw data from customers
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Observing product in use

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Meeting With The Customers
Proposed Outcomes
Prioritized Outcomes
Prioritized Design Variables
Validated Outcomes New Outcomes
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How Many Customers?
100
80
60
Percent of Needs Identified
40
20
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Number of Respondents or Groups
From Griffin, Abbie and John R. Hauser. The
Voice of the Customer, Marketing Science. vol.
12, no. 1, Winter 1993.
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Visual Information Example Book Bag Design
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Needs Translation ExerciseBook Bag Design
Example

• See how the leather on the bottom of the bag is
  all scratched its ugly.

When Im standing in line at the cashier trying
to find my checkbook while balancing my bag on my
knee, I feel like a stork.
This bag is my life if I lose it Im in big
trouble.
Theres nothing worse than a banana thats been
squished by the edge of a textbook.
I never use both straps on my knapsack I just
sling it over one shoulder.
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Identifying Customer Needs

• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Express need as what, not how
• Express the need as specifically as the raw data
• Use positive, not negative, phrasing
• Express the need as an attribute to the product
• Avoid the words must and should

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Five Guidelines for Writing Needs Statements
Guideline
Customer Statement
Need Statement Wrong
Need Statement Right
Why dont you put protective shields around the
battery contacts?
The screwdriver battery contacts are covered by a
plastic sliding door.
The screwdriver battery is protected from
accidental shorting.
What Not How
I drop my screwdriver all the time.
The screwdriver is rugged.
The screwdriver operates normally after repeated
dropping.
Specificity
Positive Not Negative
It doesnt matter if its raining, I still need
to work outside on Saturdays.
The screwdriver is not disabled by the rain.
The screwdriver operates normally in the rain.
Attribute of the Product
Id like to charge my battery from my cigarette
lighter.
An automobile cigarette lighter adapter can
charge the screwdriver battery.
The screwdriver battery can be charged from an
automobile cigarette lighter.
Avoid Must and Should
I hate it when I dont know how much juice is
left in the batteries of my cordless tools.
The screwdriver should provide an indication of
the energy level of the battery.
The screwdriver provides an indication of the
energy level of the battery.
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Identifying Customer Needs

• Organize needs into a hierarchy
• (one method)
• Print each need on separate card/post-it
• Eliminate redundant statements
• Group cards according to similar needs met
• Choose a label for each group
• Create supergroups (2 to 5 groups) where possible
• Review / edit the organized need statements

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Establish relative importance of each need
• Develop a weighting system for customer needs
• Rely on consensus of the team based on their
  experience with customers
• Or
• Use further customer surveys

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Reflect on the results and the process
• Are results consistent with results of teams
  interaction with the customers?
• Have all important types of customers in target
  market been interacted with?
• What do we know that we didnt know when we
  started? Any surprises?
• How can we improve the process?

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Kano Diagram for Customer Satisfaction
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Expected, Requested, and Surprising Performance
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Establish Hierarchy, Relative Importance
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Summary Identifying Customer Needs

• The process
• Gather raw data from customers
• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Organize needs into a hierarchy (primary,
  secondary, etc.)
• Establish relative importance of each need
• Reflect on the results and the process

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Caveats

• Capture What, Not How.
• Meet customers in the use environment.
• Collect visual, verbal, and textual data.
• Props will stimulate customer responses.
• Interviews are more efficient than focus groups.
• Interview all stakeholders and lead users.
• Develop an organized list of need statements.
• Look for latent needs.
• Survey to quantify tradeoffs.
• Make a video to communicate results.

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End