Looking for extraordinary results from ordinary research?

You're probably not going to find the results you're hoping for....

Focus groups and quantitative surveys are great for concept validation or capturing product preferences, but were never meant to be the foundation for product development because they can't capture needs beyond what the consumer knows.

Non-traditional research, like observational and contextual inquiry, digs deeper than consumer opinion tools, enabling researchers to uncover unmet needs consumers could never express.

The problem with traditional research methods is that consumers can’t tell you what they really need because they can’t see past existing products.

When they express frustrations with a product, it’s often followed up with “But I know _____ already does this.”  While they can point to existing products as things they aspire to own, asking a consumer “What if you could have the perfect _______, what would that look like?” and you’re be met with a blank stare.

Observational and contextual inquiry allow you to get past what is known by the consumer and lets you get at something far more critical; their unmet needs. 

Unmet needs come in a variety of forms, but most notably they are either articulated (a need that a consumer can express if put in the right environment) or unarticulated (a need that they have, but are not consciously aware of). 

The key to effective product or service innovation is to get past the consumer’s stated desires to understand their unmet needs.  Offerings that satisfy these needs have a much higher probability of market success than even products that people have “asked for”.

Immersing yourself into your consumers’ world is the only way to effectively capture these unmet needs.  Watching them interact with products, and engage in the processes that are part of their everyday life can reveal valuable insights regarding breakthrough product development opportunities. 

Most companies are experts in their respective product lines.  If given the right design criteria, there is no one more capable of developing effective solutions than the people that have been hired and trained to do so. 

Converting insights from non-traditional research into design criteria is the first step in creating true innovation. Once these concepts have been developed, you can go back to traditional research for validation or selection purposes.