PowerPoint Presentation

1Customer Needs

2Understanding and Identifying Customer NeedsConsidering the customers desires is essential in the products success and it will pull product development into a better and more focused direction.Technologists Problem product development undertaken with no basis for market acceptance, very common in engineering community.Akia Morita (1986), founder of Sony Corp., our plan is to lead the public to new products rather than ask them what they want. The public does not know what is possible, we do2Betamax videotape, failed to satisfy the customer3Customer ExpectationsCustomer expectations increase over time, it is very important to stay in touch with customers and to understand their preferences. The more customer expects, the harder it is to keep delighting the customer.Customer PopulationThe customer is a statistical concept.The design team should define the customer population using the product.Example, automobile: cup holder, antilock brake system, CD player, airbags, GPS, .Example, Bicycle; racing bike, mountain bike, recreational bike3Cup holder and ABS bicycle, international users

4Types of Customer NeedsDirect Needs customers have no trouble declaring those needs they are concerned about.Cost, good pictures, ease of operationLatent Needs not directly expressed by the customer without probing.Obtaining prints, easy viewing on PC, deleting pictures, viewing picturesGeneral categories based on how easy the customer can express them and how rapidly they change.Example: Digital Camera5Types of Customer NeedsConstant Needs these needs are intrinsic to the task of the product and always will be. When product is used, this need is always there.Nighttime picture taking, number of digital images, ..Special needs apply only to a smaller market segment within the entire population.Under water application, rapid picture taking6The ProcessCollecting raw data from customersInterpreting the raw dataGrouping the needs into primary, secondary, needsEstablishing the relative importance of the needsDocumenting the results for the entire design team7The Goals of the ProcessEnsure that the product is focused on customer needsIdentify all needs, explicit and hiddenMake sure that no critical need is missedCreating a comprehensive list of the needs for the design teamThe idea is to create a high-quality information channel between the customers in the target market and the developers of the product.8Gathering Customer NeedsGuideline for interviewingSelect the actual users of the product to interview and introduceyourself and state the purpose of the interview. Discuss the needs with a single customer, one at a time in the customers environment where the customer uses the product and feels comfortableInterviewsWhen and why do you use this product?

Walk us through a typical session using the product.

What do you like about the existing product?

What do you dislike about the existing product?

What issues do you consider when buying this product?

What improvements would you make to the product?

What would be a reasonable price tag for the product?9Guideline for interviewingGathering Customer Needs do not bias the customer with any concept or technology. Uncovering a need that is independent from the solution used helps in concept engineering.Suppress preconceived notions about the product technology Wherever the customer takes you, follow along, and ask why and how questions Bring models of new product, competitors products.Use visual stimuli and props Go with the flow 10Guideline for interviewing dont just ask about the product, observing the customer in action provides helpful information.Gathering Customer Needs look for facialWatch for nonverbal informationand body language.Be alert for surprises and latent needs pursue anysurprise answer with a question.Have the customer demonstrate11Gathering Customers needsQuestionnaires use the same guideline as for the interview to develop a list of questions. Prepare the questions carefully. Then organize the responses provided. Make the list short. a moderator facilitates a session with a group of customers in the product developers environment. The design team may observe the session behind a two-way mirror. Very common in food industry. Look for facial and body expressions.Focus groups12Comments on Gathering Customers needsQuestionnaires provide the of information. The responses only pertain to the questions asked, not necessarily what the customer wants to tell the design team. Low percentage of returns.lowest quality are more to attain the same amount of information.Focus groupscostlyConducting is the way of gathering quality information. Hauser (1993), reports that interviewing nine customers for one hour each will obtain over 90% of the customer needs that would be uncovered when interviewing 60 customers in a focus group.interviewsmost efficient13Example: Electric WokAn electric wok redesign is desired. Current electric woks are inadequate and do not satisfy the demands of customers to conveniently cook authentic Chinese food. The original wok is a six-quart electric wok. A competitive wok is a traditional wok, used over a gas flame.

14Interview Data Template (Likes/Dislikes) Electric Wok

15Interview Data Template Elect. Wok

16Interview Data Template Elect. Wok

17Product feel Industrial DesignIn addition to the activities of a product, it is also important to capture the desired feel of a product. Industrial designers emphasizes the important human qualities of comfort, safety , and aesthetic appeal.

Semantic Inquiry18Organizing Customer Needs

The design team reviews the interpreted needs and sort them into a list - Affinity Diagram Method

19Determining Need ImportanceThere are two basic approaches to determining the relative importance of the needs. (performed by the design team) The subjective importance ratings (Must, Good, ) are converted into numerical equivalents. Then the importance is calculated using the average equation.Interview Data Method (based on customer surveys) A questionnaire is sent to customers asking for the importance of each need. Costly but more accurate.Questionnaire Method20Determining Need ImportanceInterview Data Method (performed by the design team) The subjective importance ratings (Must, Good, Should, and Nice) are converted into numerical equivalents. Must (9) used when a customer absolutely must have this feature, should be used very sparingly.Good (7) a very important customer need should have a Good importance rating.Should (5) If the customer feels the product should satisfy this requirement, its important for the design team to consider it.Nice (3) this is for the needs that would be nice if the product satisfied them but are not critical (added product functions)21Comments on Customer Needs ProcessThe process of identifying and evaluating customer needs is not an exact science.The knowledge, intuition and experience of the design team is important.The result of the customer needs process is used to establish product specifications.The process ensures that the product is focused on customer needs.The results should be organized and documented for the design team to use.21