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COMPELLING CONSUMER CHANGE inform, Oct - Nov 2006 |
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In this issue of inform we look at 'Compelling Consumer Change'. This issue focuses on the age-old question of 'how do I get the customer to move from what they're using to what I'm selling?'
This theme was inspired by an article in the June 2006 edition of the Harvard Business Review. In this article (Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers by John T. Gourville) the author considers why such potentially exciting innovations as E-Books, online grocery shopping and the Segway haven't made quite the dent we might have thought they would when they were announced.
This is because, the underlying research suggests, various effects of the 'psychology of gains and losses' cause us to strongly overvalue what we already have. By, as it happens, about a factor of three. But the problem doesn't end there.
Research also suggests that when a company develops a new product, it also tends to overestimate its value to consumers by, coincidentally, a factor of three. This mean, in sum, that when you bring out a new product, there is a good chance that you will think it to be nine times better than how it will be perceived by consumers. That's quite a gap!
The article suggests that those products that do well, even with the '9x Effect' are those that offer high product change (i.e. more exciting features, more value) coupled with low behaviour change (i.e. I use it much like the old one). When too much behaviour change is required, we stall on adopting a new innovation.
In this issue we look at ways to cross the '9x' chasm, and hear from some of those that have done it and are doing it.
As always your feedback is gratefully received.
ENSURING DESIGN PROMPTS CONSUMER CHANGE by Michael Herman
In the bitterly contested marketplace of mobile communications, providing high levels of customer delight is proving to be one of the keys to keeping users on a network and to growing market share. And, for Clive Grinyer of European mobile behemoth Orange...Read Article
PROMOTING CHANGE IN ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR by Fraser Scott
In our April-May edition Eurekster co-founder Gary Franklin introduced us to the search engine that was beginning to make Google and Yahoo a little nervous. Six months later the other co-founder, Grant Ryan, is feeling very confident about �taking on the big boys�...Read Article
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE PEOPLE CHANGE? by Jacqueline Rowarth
The tipping point for a decision to change behaviour is the moment when the need to change becomes internalised. The �yes, now� moment may be to do with deciding to buy a hybrid car, move to a smaller house, stop using plastic bags, implement a new human...Read Article
THE DESIGNER'S ROLE IN PROMPTING CONSUMER CHANGE by Ed van Hinte
An interesting fact: celluloid, one of the first commercial plastics, was introduced in the middle of the 19th Century as a replacement for ivory. It is an interesting producer choice that was enforced by a shortage of elephant tusks. This fact illustrates the fate of change...Read Article
THINKING AND FEELING LIKE A CONSUMER: WHY DESIGNERS NEED TO GET INSIDE THE HEAD AND HEART OF THE CUSTOMER by John Heng
In the world of design the mantra is �change�, the enabler of new ideas, new products, new clients and the associated fees that put bread on the table of the designer themselves. The question is: if in fact the above is the answer, why do the great majority of newly designed products fail? Could...Read Article
WRINGING A PREMIUM OUT OF MORE HIGHLY EVOLVED PRODUCTS by Dorenda Britten and Michael Herman
Throughout the world leaders at the vanguard of their product or service categories have several things in common apart from what can objectively be considered �good design�; they are rewarded with hallmark status and an earnings bonus by being first to market with something...Read Article
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Distractions |
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A couple of interesting customer stories...
I work in the produce section of a supermarket located in a rapidly growing suburban area. During peak hours, the store is packed. Stacking tomatoes one Saturday, I looked up to see two women collide head-on with their shopping carts. "Women drivers," I muttered jokingly. Hearing my comment, one of the women looked at me and snapped, "Male architects!"
A man purchased a laptop from me. He called about a week later and said that it would no longer boot-up. I tried to troubleshoot with him about what went wrong but he said it wouldn't even start. I had him bring it in and I couldn't get it to work either. I was making preparations to remove the hard drive so I could put it into a new laptop for him. When I turned it over, I saw 16 nicely drilled holes in the bottom of the case. I asked him how this had happened and he said that it was getting hot sitting on his lap all the time, so he drilled some air holes in it. "Could that be the problem?" he asked.
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Design Input |
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Airtowel Reinvented (Times Online) As if answering our previous criticism of the 'air-towel' Dyson has transformed this dysfunctional device into the 'Airblade'.
Scents and Sensibility (Time) Call it 'olfactory manipulation': companies are utilising customised fragrances to make customers more willing to shop.
Design Intervention (Fast Company) Philips is a company that has both embraced and bet its future on design. So just how is the gamble paying off?
Brand Extinction (Businessweek) When consumer products start looking more and more like each other, does the value of individual brands get lost?
Keep Customers Happy (Entrepreneur) Using technology intelligently can help you to keep your customers happy and avoid having to get quite so many new ones.
Political Games (Washington Post) Video games, like most other forms of entertainment, and becoming more and more politicised. |
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