Getting non-obvious understandings of your customers are key for finding opportunities that have a transformational and long lasting impact. While a fast pacing business environment requires us to validate our assumptions in a agile matter. In this interactive session breakthrough approaches (models, frameworks and techniques) are discussed to gather customer insights and validation.

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Template presentation Innovation Day 2016CONFIDENTIAL
GET THE RIGHT CUSTOMER
INSIGHTS & VALIDATION
Michiel Cambron
Consultant InnoLab
michiel.cambron@verhaert.com
TRACK 4: HUMAN TOUCH, YOUR TEAM & THE CUSTOMER

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

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“The company that consistently
makes and implements decisions
rapidly gains a tremendous, often
decisive, competitive advantage.”
Steve Blank – The Start-Up Manual

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INTRODUCTION
Facts:
• Agility pays off and we all aim for it in product development.
• Talking with our customer pay’s off, because we look at opportunities
& aim to derisk our innovation process. (Customer Insights &
Validation Research 1.0)
Source: Mckinsey.com

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A NEW PARADIGM IN AGILE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
From launching a new enterprise/product with a hit-or-miss
proposition towards a build-measure-loop mindset …
Differences
• Elaborate Planning vs Experimentation
• Intuition vs Customer Feedback
• Big Design Up Front vs Interactive Design
Source: The Lean Start-up

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CUSTOMER INSIGHTS AND
VALIDATION RESEARCH 1.0

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What has been the biggest invention
all time for the next-gen super
amazing innovator structuring
insights & validation?
Customer Insights & Validation Research 2.0

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THE POST-IT
It contains a tiny little space so you need to think
about what the key take away was/is.

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DISPLAY
YOUR
RESEARCH
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GROUP AND
SEGMENT
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SYNTHESIZE
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DESIGN
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CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
What kind of tools, frameworks do
you use to get insights on your
customers?
What are the main barriers for you
and your company to start with agile
& continious customer insights &
validation?
What is your key take-away
from this session ?

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PART 2: HUMAN FACTOR

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“There are no facts inside the
building so get the hell outside.”
Steve Blank – The Start-Up Manual

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REMEMBER, YOU ARE BUILDING A PRODUCT FOR PEOPLE
Some psychological facts:
• People make purchase decisions rooted as much
in emotional impulses as logical facts
Source: The Wheel of Emotion

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REMEMBER, YOU ARE BUILDING A PRODUCT FOR PEOPLE
Some psychological facts:
• Buyers have egos
B2C
• They want to make a buying decision that will
enhance their careers.
• They want information that will help them make the
best business decision possible – a decision that will
result in cost savings and/or increase top line
revenue.
• How can they become the hero of their company
• They can talk about issues (problems, opportunities)
that are important to them
… to get there first need to understand their
perceptions about the business problem
(that your product or service could solve)
That's why when it comes to designing the customer
experience, no detail is too small. There are several
elements involved:
1. what customers see
2. what they hear
3. what they smell
4. what they touch
5. how they are physically affected (e.g. temperature)
B2B

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REMEMBER, YOU ARE BUILDING A PRODUCT FOR PEOPLE.
Some psychological facts:
• Buyers respond psychologically to visual elements and stories
• True Customer insights through « Selfies ». The kind that can drive breakthrough
innovations come from these kinds of surprising individual stories.
• Classic Market Research would tell us that most of us aspire to make healthier eating
choices – but the subtleties of when and why we actually do (or don’t) tell a far more
important story to product developers.
Source: The NY Times

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REMEMBER, YOU ARE BUILDING A PRODUCT FOR PEOPLE
Some psychological facts:
• Buyers crave value
Products & Services deliver fundamental
elements of value that address four kinds
of needs:
• Functional
• Emotional
• Life Changing
• Social Impact

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PART 3: INNOVATION RESEARCH FACES

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6 FACES OF CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
The Co-CreatorThe Data Detective The Scientist
The Anthropologist The ImpersonatorThe Journalist
Source: Value Proposition Design

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THE ANTHROPOLOGIST
Customer Observation – Getting unconventional insights on the way
customers handle their activities.

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“New Products are inherently hard
to launch because both the problem
and solution are unknown.”
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Eric Ries – The Lean Start-Up
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HOW TO APPROACH?
Stay with the family Observe shopping behavior
IF YOU NEED DEVELOP THE NEXT GEN VACUUM CLEANER …
Go and observe how vacuum cleaning is done currently.
Observe the work process
Goal: Understand
your customer’s
world in more detail
BE CREATIVE…
Observe shop & product experience

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Opportunities in Cooking Equipment ? ( Through Pictures)
We asked our
own colleagues
Send us insights
from your
kitchen
We observed in
cooking shops

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CAPTURING YOUR INSIGHTS…

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1. Observe and take notes. Hold back with interpretation based
on your own experience. Stay nonjudgmental! Work like an
anthropologist and watch with “fresh” eyes and an open
mindset
2. Pay attention to both what you see and what you don’t see.
3. Capture not only what you can observe but also what is not
talked about such as feelings or emotions.
TIPS & TRICKS

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The Journalist

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« Pay attention to your subject’s habits and mannerisms. Subtle clues
like posture, tone of voice and word choice can all, when presented to
readers, contribute to a fuller and more accurate presentation of the
interview subject »
Two Ears, One Mouth…
And Two Eyes

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NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
What are
different jobs
to be done?
What
motivates the
use and
purchase?
What are
unmet needs?
What are the
biggest pains,
concerns?
How success is
measured?
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
What are
important
decisive
elements (long
list)?
What are the
most important
elements
(shortlist) ?
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
To determine
importance of
different
features
To understand
a preferred
option for each
feature
Calculate utility
values for each
feature
What
combination of
features would
be preferred?
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
To understand
perception of different
product concepts in
relation to the key
product promises
What product has the
highest market
acceptance potential?
What are positive and
negative perception
factors?
What is the logics of
decision making ?
To understand trade
offs driven by specific
features
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
To understand perception of
different product concepts based
on the look & feel experience
To learn about criticalities in
decision making
What product version would have
the highest market acceptance?
USABILITY
Collect insights on the
usability & key values
Collect insights on
preferred options &
appreciation of
different features,
potential trade offs
Collect insights on
overall use experience
Idea generation  product concept development  product definition  concept prototype testing
 engineering  product prototype testing
WHICH JOURNALIST ARE YOU ?

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The vehicle will not start (the problem)
• Why? - The battery is dead (first why)
• Why? - The alternator is not functioning (second why)
• Why? - The alternator belt has broken (third why)
• Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service
life and not replaced (fourth why)
• Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended
service schedule (fifth why, a root cause)
OPEN INTERVIEWING - THE FIVE W’S

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1. Stingingly Website
2. User Testing Solution
3. Combined to test your value proposition
OPEN INSIGHTS - EXAMPLE: ONLINE TOOL HACKING

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Surveys give speed in insights & stability in analyzing process.
CLOSED INSIGHTS - SURVEYING

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POSITIONING JOB TO BE DONE, PAINS & GAINS
Look out for underserved needs.
Skip overserved needs.
Look out for needs that make a key difference.
Plan the competitive positioning
http://www.linkedtolaw.co.uk/
Key inputs for product planning
1. Needs based segmentation
Different needs, importance & perception
of value and performance.
2. Key needs & value drivers for product design
3. Key performance attributes for competitive
positioning for specific values/needs space
I vacuum every day at
9am. I have to control
my husband’s allergies
The less I have to do
myself the better!
My cat leaves its hair
everywhere.... It never
seems to be really
clean...

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SMALL SAMPLE SIZE RESEARCH
• Lead User Methodology
• Lead users face needs that will be general in a marketplace – but face them months
or years before the bulk of that marketplace encounters them, and
• Lead users are positioned to benefit significantly by obtaining a solution to their needs.
WHO TO INTERVIEW
WISDOM OF CROWDS
1. It is possible to describe how people in a group think as a whole.
2. In some cases, groups are remarkably intelligent and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.
3. The three conditions for a group to be intelligent are diversity, independence, and decentralization.
4. The best decisions are a product of disagreement and contest.
5. Too much communication can make the group as a whole less intelligent.
6. Information aggregation functionality is needed.
7. The right information needs to be delivered to the right people in the right place, at the right time, and in the right way.
8. There is no need to chase the expert.

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TIPS & TRICKS
• Adopt a beginners mind
• Listen more than you talk
• Get facts, not opinions
• Ask Why to get real motivations
• The goals of customer insight interviews is not selling
it’s about learning
• Don’t mention solutions too early
• Follow Up
• Always open doors at the end
• Interviews are an excellent starting point to learn from
customers, but typically they don’t provide enough or
sufficiently reliable insights for making critical decisions

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The Impersonator

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HOW TO APPROACH ?
Mystery Shopping as
a Cool Technician
1 Week as a Beer
Appliance Technician
IF YOU NEED DEVELOP THE NEXT GEN VACUUM CLEANER …
Go and vacuum clean in different settings.
BE CREATIVE…

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PART 4: CONCLUSION

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KEY TAKE AWAYS
1. The POST-IT, a bit more then just a piece of paper with a sticky part
2. A new mindset from HIT-OR-MISS PROPOSITION towards
a BUILD-MEASURE-LOOP mindset
3. Humans make decisions with 2 sides of the brain. Don’t forget
the EMOTIONAL PART OF PEOPLE
4. Combine different agile approaches to get customer insights &
feedback. Choice within the 6 FACES OF INNOVATION RESEARCH
5. GET OUT OF THE BUILDING & EXPERIMENT, and remember
a human has Two Ears, One Mouth … And Two Eyes
6. BE CREATIVE & HACK EXISTING TOOLS, the right combination
of online tools, environments, events, … can give you the opportunity
of a lifetime to get valuable insights.

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Innovation Day is an initiative of Masters in Innovation,
the umbrella brand of the Verhaert Group which aims
to connect, train and accelerate professional innovators.
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