From Pawns to Partners: Turning Customers into Co-Designers- Pool Autumn 2003

Editor's comment: Developing new products and services tends to be a costly and time-consuming exercise. In an excerpt from his recent book "Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World" Michael Solomon suggests that it can be far more effective and cost-effective to bring consumers into the process early on.

More than 650,000 customers beta-tested Microsoft Windows 2000 before it went to market. The value of this R&D investment to Microsoft: More than $500 million. You do the math - not a bad deal for Microsoft.

Why don't more companies do the equivalent of software beta-testing, where they share preliminary, bug-laden concepts with customers to get their feedback before it's too late? Ironically, many companies go to great lengths to hide their ideas until they are absolutely, positively perfect -- at least according to their own designers.

Perfectionism aside, to the contrary it often makes sense to reveal what you are up to in the early stages, warts and all. In many contexts, consumers want to be engaged in the design process. They want to be part of an ongoing conversation with companies to ensure that they can choose from goods and services that fit their needs, not just the latest gizmos some whiz-kid thought would be cool to sell.

Many service businesses understand the value of enlisting their customers as quasi-employees. Sometimes these “helpers” aren’t even aware of their contributions to a smooth operation, but they make them nonetheless. When a rental car agency gets people to obediently board a shuttle bus and line up at the proper place, it is making life easier for its employees. When a CPA firm sends a thick tax information form to a client to fill out in advance of a meeting, it’s saving a lot of time for the accountant (and hopefully passing this savings on to the client in the form of fewer billable hours). When diners serve themselves in a buffet and even bus their tables when they’re done, they’re taking on the duties of wait staff – and paying for the privilege.

So, why not enlist the help of the people who will use the products you make? Involve them in the design process; get them to work as co-designers to be sure you are producing what they want to buy. When producers and consumers sign off on the process early on, everybody wins.

Henry Ford’s famous maxim that his customers could have any color Model T they wanted – as long as it was black – went over well in his day. But, today’s consumer isn’t having any of that. We have what psychologists call a “need for uniqueness;” everyone likes to feel that in some way, however small, they are special. That’s why a perfume is marketed as: “Cachet. As individual as you are.” This need creates enormous opportunities for companies that can convince us what we buy is tailored just to us and no one else in the world has anything quite like it.

The need to be special in an anonymous world has spawned a bit of a revolution in manufacturing. Mass customization occurs when individually tailored products are produced at nearly the cost of standardized procedures. Today, customers are configuring their own products, including computers (Dell), bicycles (Cannondale), CDs (CD-Now), vitamins (Acumin), designer jeans (Levi's) and newspapers (The Wall Street Journal Personal Journal).

Mass customization is a great innovation, no doubt. But, the user still is only choosing from among a set of pre-specified options rather than participating in defining what those options are. Can we go even farther in enlisting consumers’ input into design and merchandising decisions?

User-centered design tries to do just that. The idea is to incorporate your current knowledge of users in the early stages of design, confront users repeatedly with early prototypes and re-design as often as necessary. For example, when Netscape introduced Navigator 2.0 to the market in January 1996, its designers immediately began developing the next version for release in August of that year. Within six weeks after launch of 2.0, Netscape put up a Beta 0 version of its new prototype on an internal project Web site. Less than two weeks later, designers posted an updated version. A prototype was released to the public in early March and thereafter every few weeks until launch

How can firms do a better job of involving customers in the design process? In a total quality management (TQM) organization, quality function deployment (QFD) assures that customer requirements actually do guide the product development process. Surprisingly, though, most firms don't really put the pedal to the metal in terms of actually gathering information about just what customers do want. And, little research has been done to better understand the potential of co-design.

To paraphrase a popular TV show, this is indeed the weakest link in the marketing chain. Indeed, classic models of consumer behavior don't even address the possibility that consumers interact with competing providers prior to making a purchase – other than evaluating claims made in static advertising messages.

Building in such a feedback mechanism provides a source of competitive advantage. So, how to do it? One way to think about this process is in terms of the level of engagement by customers. A useful typology looks like this:

Bringing consumers into the product development process can be time-consuming and expensive if it’s done right. Fortunately, the Internet allows firms to get inexpensive feedback almost instantaneously -- even though only a few companies are taking advantage of this medium in just this way.

For example, Fiat put a link on its website to evaluate users' needs for its next generation of the Fiat Punto model. Customers prioritized style, comfort, performance, price and safety features. They were asked to share what they hated most about the car, and to suggest ideas for new features. Then they could select from body styles, wheel designs and front and rear designs and they could see their design onscreen. Software captured the final results and also traced the sequence respondents used when selecting options. Fiat got back more than 3000 surveys in a 3 month period; ideas ranged from including an umbrella holder inside the car to building a model with a single bench front seat. The total cost to Fiat was $35,000, petty cash in the world of market research.

Conversion to a web-based format has several compelling advantages. Response time can be minimized because customers can provide feedback from the comfort of their own homes; this information is transmitted directly back and instantly combined with others' reactions. It is easier to modify the research instrument or to create multiple experimental versions of it, and the feedback can be collected around the clock. The researcher has the capability of reaching a larger and more diverse subject population, and it is possible that responses will be more truthful due to the anonymity afforded by the Web. Since data collection is automated and coding errors all but eliminated, data costs per respondent are considerably lower than with traditional research methods.

Our firm (Mind/Share, Inc.) employs online consumer research methodologies that 1) are visually-based; 2) allow the responses of large numbers of respondents to be aggregated for analysis; and 3) permit a nearly instantaneous and continuous flow of data to researchers. Our approach also tackles such technical impediments as download time and platform-dependence.

How do we do it? We use a web-based interactive data collection technique that allows respondents to manipulate visual images of products as a means of expressing their tastes and preferences. This tool is comprised of a browser-based software interface with an extensive database layer, which handles storage and retrieval of visual images.

A web-based approach like this is very valuable for a range of merchandising and marketing decisions. Consider the apparel and home furnishings industries, for example. Typically, a fairly large number of styles -- whether jeans or carpet samples -- are manufactured and sent to retailers. Nobody really knows which will be stars and which will be dogs until market data are available. Letting customers vote with their dollars after the fact is a very expensive way to get market feedback! If customers can point to the likely dogs before full-scale production, firms can trim their initial set of offerings and the savings can be enormous.

To illustrate this process, let's walk through a design study we conducted for Burns Security, a division of Wells Fargo Corporation. Burns decided to revamp its corporate image and as part of that effort the firm wanted to redesign the uniforms worn by its security personnel. Uniforms play a crucial role in communicating corporate image, so choosing the right design is not a trivial issue in this competitive industry.

But what image should the uniforms communicate? Burns Security and its uniform supplier, Lion Apparel, needed answers -- and fast. To provide this feedback we built a password-protected website exclusively for Burns employees. We designed an online survey that gave respondents different design options from which to choose. Their choices were immediately transmitted back to our server where they were combined with everyone else’s for analysis. Soon afterwards, managers who were given access by Burns could log on to a secure website to see a visual summary of the options chosen. Quick responses, quick decisions!.

First, participants were asked to select animals representing the image Burns has now, the image it wants to have, and the image it doesn't want to have (representing a company's image in terms of metaphors like animals is a common technique in marketing research). After the respondent "sorted" the animals into these categories, he saw his choices onscreen like the sample shown in Exhibit 1.

In the next step, the respondent is taken to a page that displays a set of uniform styles. Some were actual styles currently being worn by the firm's security personnel and others were new styles the company wanted to test. Once again, the employee "sorted" the options onscreen and rated each one on a series of attributes such as sophisticated or sloppy. An example is shown in Exhibit 2.

At this point the users of these products also can provide their own, open-ended feedback. For example, what aspects of the design you selected would you change to make it even better? What problems are you encountering with your current uniform?

Now, things get really interesting. Instead of waiting weeks or months to receive a boring report that few will read, interested managers can log on to a restricted site and receive current updates on the respondents’ uniform choices. Feedback can be accessed from anywhere. This information can be made available to as few or as many employees, clients or consumers as desired. A sample report page is shown in Exhibit 3.

Turning consumers into co-designers is all about having conversations with customers. Companies need to understand sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind; let people spout off about what they like and don’t like – when there’s still time to change. Early feedback increases the likelihood that what eventually gets offered is what people want. Turning pawns into partners is a win-win strategy for marketers and consumers alike.

Excerpted from Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World by Michael R. Solomon. Copyright © 2003 Michael R. Solomon. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org.

Visitors to this site are granted permission to download or print out one (1) copy of the AMACOM content from the website for personal use only and agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate this material without prior written permission of the copyright owner (AMA).


	*Number 24: Autumn 2003*

About Michael Solomon More Consumer Issues Features	*From Pawns to Partners: Turning Customers into Co-Designers* *By Michael Solomon* Editor's comment: Developing new products and services tends to be a costly and time-consuming exercise. In an excerpt from his recent book "Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World" Michael Solomon suggests that it can be far more effective and cost-effective to bring consumers into the process early on. More than 650,000 customers beta-tested Microsoft Windows 2000 before it went to market. The value of this R&D investment to Microsoft: More than $500 million. You do the math - not a bad deal for Microsoft. Why don't more companies do the equivalent of software beta-testing, where they share preliminary, bug-laden concepts with customers to get their feedback before it's too late? Ironically, many companies go to great lengths to hide their ideas until they are absolutely, positively perfect -- at least according to their own designers. Perfectionism aside, to the contrary it often makes sense to reveal what you are up to in the early stages, warts and all. In many contexts, consumers want to be engaged in the design process. They want to be part of an ongoing conversation with companies to ensure that they can choose from goods and services that fit their needs, not just the latest gizmos some whiz-kid thought would be cool to sell. Many service businesses understand the value of enlisting their customers as quasi-employees. Sometimes these “helpers” aren’t even aware of their contributions to a smooth operation, but they make them nonetheless. When a rental car agency gets people to obediently board a shuttle bus and line up at the proper place, it is making life easier for its employees. When a CPA firm sends a thick tax information form to a client to fill out in advance of a meeting, it’s saving a lot of time for the accountant (and hopefully passing this savings on to the client in the form of fewer billable hours). When diners serve themselves in a buffet and even bus their tables when they’re done, they’re taking on the duties of wait staff – and paying for the privilege. So, why not enlist the help of the people who will use the products you make? Involve them in the design process; get them to work as co-designers to be sure you are producing what they want to buy. When producers and consumers sign off on the process early on, everybody wins. Henry Ford’s famous maxim that his customers could have any color Model T they wanted – as long as it was black – went over well in his day. But, today’s consumer isn’t having any of that. We have what psychologists call a “need for uniqueness;” everyone likes to feel that in some way, however small, they are special. That’s why a perfume is marketed as: “Cachet. As individual as you are.” This need creates enormous opportunities for companies that can convince us what we buy is tailored just to us and no one else in the world has anything quite like it. The need to be special in an anonymous world has spawned a bit of a revolution in manufacturing. Mass customization occurs when individually tailored products are produced at nearly the cost of standardized procedures. Today, customers are configuring their own products, including computers (Dell), bicycles (Cannondale), CDs (CD-Now), vitamins (Acumin), designer jeans (Levi's) and newspapers (The Wall Street Journal Personal Journal). *Getting Their Hands Dirty: The Customer as Co-Designer* Mass customization is a great innovation, no doubt. But, the user still is only choosing from among a set of pre-specified options rather than participating in defining what those options are. Can we go even farther in enlisting consumers’ input into design and merchandising decisions? User-centered design tries to do just that. The idea is to incorporate your current knowledge of users in the early stages of design, confront users repeatedly with early prototypes and re-design as often as necessary. For example, when Netscape introduced Navigator 2.0 to the market in January 1996, its designers immediately began developing the next version for release in August of that year. Within six weeks after launch of 2.0, Netscape put up a Beta 0 version of its new prototype on an internal project Web site. Less than two weeks later, designers posted an updated version. A prototype was released to the public in early March and thereafter every few weeks until launch How can firms do a better job of involving customers in the design process? In a total quality management (TQM) organization, quality function deployment (QFD) assures that customer requirements actually do guide the product development process. Surprisingly, though, most firms don't really put the pedal to the metal in terms of actually gathering information about just what customers do want. And, little research has been done to better understand the potential of co-design. To paraphrase a popular TV show, this is indeed the weakest link in the marketing chain. Indeed, classic models of consumer behavior don't even address the possibility that consumers interact with competing providers prior to making a purchase – other than evaluating claims made in static advertising messages. Building in such a feedback mechanism provides a source of competitive advantage. So, how to do it? One way to think about this process is in terms of the level of engagement by customers. A useful typology looks like this: Design for: A product development approach where products are designed on behalf of the customers. This is the current standard, where (if you're lucky) a company will get input from specific customer groups in the form of interviews or focus groups. Design with: This approach includes information about customer preferences, needs and requirements as well. In addition, though, customers are shown a set of possible solutions or product concepts and are asked to react to them. Design by: Now we're getting somewhere. This denotes a product development approach where customers are actively involved and partake in the design of their own product. *Virtual Co-Design: Getting Online Feedback* Bringing consumers into the product development process can be time-consuming and expensive if it’s done right. Fortunately, the Internet allows firms to get inexpensive feedback almost instantaneously -- even though only a few companies are taking advantage of this medium in just this way. For example, Fiat put a link on its website to evaluate users' needs for its next generation of the Fiat Punto model. Customers prioritized style, comfort, performance, price and safety features. They were asked to share what they hated most about the car, and to suggest ideas for new features. Then they could select from body styles, wheel designs and front and rear designs and they could see their design onscreen. Software captured the final results and also traced the sequence respondents used when selecting options. Fiat got back more than 3000 surveys in a 3 month period; ideas ranged from including an umbrella holder inside the car to building a model with a single bench front seat. The total cost to Fiat was $35,000, petty cash in the world of market research. Conversion to a web-based format has several compelling advantages. Response time can be minimized because customers can provide feedback from the comfort of their own homes; this information is transmitted directly back and instantly combined with others' reactions. It is easier to modify the research instrument or to create multiple experimental versions of it, and the feedback can be collected around the clock. The researcher has the capability of reaching a larger and more diverse subject population, and it is possible that responses will be more truthful due to the anonymity afforded by the Web. Since data collection is automated and coding errors all but eliminated, data costs per respondent are considerably lower than with traditional research methods. Our firm (Mind/Share, Inc.) employs online consumer research methodologies that 1) are visually-based; 2) allow the responses of large numbers of respondents to be aggregated for analysis; and 3) permit a nearly instantaneous and continuous flow of data to researchers. Our approach also tackles such technical impediments as download time and platform-dependence. How do we do it? We use a web-based interactive data collection technique that allows respondents to manipulate visual images of products as a means of expressing their tastes and preferences. This tool is comprised of a browser-based software interface with an extensive database layer, which handles storage and retrieval of visual images. A web-based approach like this is very valuable for a range of merchandising and marketing decisions. Consider the apparel and home furnishings industries, for example. Typically, a fairly large number of styles -- whether jeans or carpet samples -- are manufactured and sent to retailers. Nobody really knows which will be stars and which will be dogs until market data are available. Letting customers vote with their dollars after the fact is a very expensive way to get market feedback! If customers can point to the likely dogs before full-scale production, firms can trim their initial set of offerings and the savings can be enormous. To illustrate this process, let's walk through a design study we conducted for Burns Security, a division of Wells Fargo Corporation. Burns decided to revamp its corporate image and as part of that effort the firm wanted to redesign the uniforms worn by its security personnel. Uniforms play a crucial role in communicating corporate image, so choosing the right design is not a trivial issue in this competitive industry. But what image should the uniforms communicate? Burns Security and its uniform supplier, Lion Apparel, needed answers -- and fast. To provide this feedback we built a password-protected website exclusively for Burns employees. We designed an online survey that gave respondents different design options from which to choose. Their choices were immediately transmitted back to our server where they were combined with everyone else’s for analysis. Soon afterwards, managers who were given access by Burns could log on to a secure website to see a visual summary of the options chosen. Quick responses, quick decisions!. First, participants were asked to select animals representing the image Burns has now, the image it wants to have, and the image it doesn't want to have (representing a company's image in terms of metaphors like animals is a common technique in marketing research). After the respondent "sorted" the animals into these categories, he saw his choices onscreen like the sample shown in Exhibit 1. In the next step, the respondent is taken to a page that displays a set of uniform styles. Some were actual styles currently being worn by the firm's security personnel and others were new styles the company wanted to test. Once again, the employee "sorted" the options onscreen and rated each one on a series of attributes such as sophisticated or sloppy. An example is shown in Exhibit 2. At this point the users of these products also can provide their own, open-ended feedback. For example, what aspects of the design you selected would you change to make it even better? What problems are you encountering with your current uniform? Now, things get really interesting. Instead of waiting weeks or months to receive a boring report that few will read, interested managers can log on to a restricted site and receive current updates on the respondents’ uniform choices. Feedback can be accessed from anywhere. This information can be made available to as few or as many employees, clients or consumers as desired. A sample report page is shown in Exhibit 3. Turning consumers into co-designers is all about having conversations with customers. Companies need to understand sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind; let people spout off about what they like and don’t like – when there’s still time to change. Early feedback increases the likelihood that what eventually gets offered is what people want. Turning pawns into partners is a win-win strategy for marketers and consumers alike. Excerpted from Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World by Michael R. Solomon. Copyright © 2003 Michael R. Solomon. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org. Visitors to this site are granted permission to download or print out one (1) copy of the AMACOM content from the website for personal use only and agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate this material without prior written permission of the copyright owner (AMA).
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