OverLinked

Let’s say a company is in the business of making plastic drinking cups for children. While on the surface this may sound like a trivial matter, it is not, as anyone with children knows. The right drinking cup can play a leading role in getting a child to sleep and making mealtime a relatively peaceful endeavor. Traditional customer focus groups bring a group of customers together and place two cups on the table. They ask the customers, “Which cup do you prefer?” The customer will then pick a cup. But that doesn’t mean either cup is the best cup for them. Maybe the customer needs a cup with a straw. But the company didn’t take the time to think about the customers’ life. In the absence of getting what was right, the customer picked what was available.

This is a great article about the use of focus groups to try to determine consumer preference. Sometimes, the way you ask someone a question determines their answer. It’s very hard (but essential) to step outside of the box and rethink the approach. It’s almost like you have to disregard your own product entirely, and focus on the customers “lifestyle” or “business environment” and once you have a firm grasp on that – you can overlay a product/service and find the ways it fits, and more importantly , the ways it does not fit.

This will give direction toward product enhancements and improvements that will be true steps forward in innovation.