The customer is always wrong???

So I've been challenged to blog on a few articles that I read which are basically about how, and well, how not, to listen to the voice of the customer.

Hey! Wake up brain! You're still in weekend mode!

The first article I read was a narrative about the singer Kenna, and his story of attempting to "make it big" in the music industry. The chapter illustrates a deeper meaning behind how different consumers perceive the value or quality of a new product. All customers are not created equal. Revelation #3 of the day. It's been a slow day! In all seriousness though, this was a real eye-opener for me as I assumed that although the consumers did have varying preferences and interests they were all roughly on the same level. The story of the taste testers (Heylmun & Ceville) who were so experienced that they could distinguish very subtle differences in tastes and textures which the layperson could not, really hammered this home for me. My pre-conceived notions were totally refuted. Up in flames.

Ouch, my ego hurts. Isn't the first time.... won't be the last.

The other interesting point, although not totally unbeknownst to me was that context matters when evaluating the voice of the customer. For example, how is the product used? The Coke vs. Pepsi taste test illustrated how Coke overlooked this question. Incidentally, I actually liked New Coke better than the original formula and was disappointed when it was yanked from the shelves! Anybody else feel this way?? Hmmm... I hear the sound of crickets. The winemakers, Christian Brothers, through a very nicely done analysis learned that consumers associate packaging with product. Again, context matters.

The unfortunate irony of this whole thing is that the many epiphanies realized over the course of the story really didn't help our friend Kenna. Because the radio station relied on a different measurement system independent of industry experts to rate the song/album, these new ideas didn't matter in the end.

I guess the moral of the story is that the distribution and advertising channels', in fact, the entire "machine's" thinking needs to be consistent with experts', otherwise investing in a new product on experience based "buy-in" may simply be a waste of time. Rule # 333: When selling a product, you must sell it to your sales force first!

The next article I read was about how to approach translating customer input into new product innovations, and how often there was a tendency to focus on solutions rather than outcomes. To this, I say "fair enough". I think when we don't ask questions in the appropriate way, we often constrain our range of possible solutions. Look out below, here comes the "But"!

But, (don't say I didn't warn you) while this is often true, I don't believe it is always the case. Quite frequently when soliciting feedback from customers on products or processes they often have extraordinary ideas and solutions to inefficiencies or shortcomings that should absolutely not be taken lightly or brushed away. There are many consumers that are innovative or have experienced a product or process in a such a manner that has forced them to think hard about improvement ideas. Although these innovations and ideas may not necessarily lead to the best solution, or as the article maintains, become an incremental improvement at best, it is possible that a customer's solution or a set of solutions provided by a group of customers may be incorporated in the final product or process. I felt this article emphasized the merits of concentrating on outcome but did not highlight the potential advantages of collecting solutions as well.

The final article I read described a rather remarkable process for extracting the deep thoughts and feelings of consumers through primarily visual metaphors and a series of structured interviews. Throughout the article I attempted to put myself in the position of a consumer coming up with images or a collage of pictures from a popular product. I chose Coke.

Hey, it was on my mind from the previous article! Getting rid of New Coke, grrrrr... after all these years I'm still bitter.

The only picture that would continually bombard my thoughts was that damn polar bear and his sickly sweet smile. This made ask the question, "how deeply into our psyche does advertising penetrate and affect our deepest thoughts and innermost feelings?". Extending from this thought, does the ZMET process lend itself to an unavoidable bias based on the advertisements that we are constantly being hit with? And if this bias exists, are we merely producing memory regurgitations? Reasonable questions, I think.

Having said this, I feel that the approach is very creative and an interesting way of indirectly developing social maps of our feelings and emotions, biases aside.

All three articles were great reads. I'm looking forward to incorporating the best aspects of these new ideas as we move forward with the development of our persona, environment, and ultimately our final product. Seriously - I really am!

Stormin' Norm signing off. Over and out.