"You think customers need it" is the last straw that kills TA

Does this Mickey Mouse washing machine look familiar to everyone?

I believe that friends who are keen on surfing the Internet recently are no strangers to this "lazy washing machine" that looks like Mickey Mouse, and even participated in this product research and development project in a small way.

After Haier's President Zhou Yunjie became popular, some netizens called on Mr. Zhou to develop a "lazy washing machine" that can wash clothes, underwear, shoes and socks in sections at the same time. Based on this, two days later, Haier Group announced that the "lazy washing machine" will be launched soon.

The birth of this seemingly accidental "lazy" product actually reflects how to accurately understand customer needs and develop a deep methodology that truly fits the market products.

Many companies now claim to be "customer-centric", but do you think customers need it, but do customers really need it?

1. Misunderstood needs

1. There is a need called "You think the customer needs it"

In product research and development, it is not uncommon to "you think customers need it, but actually customers don't."

This happened to Sony when it launched a speaker. At that time, Sony convened a leaderless group to form a focus interview, specifically conducting research on product color selection. After a fierce discussion, the group unanimously determined that consumers would prefer yellow speakers. At the end of the interview, organizers allowed participants to take away a speaker for free, freely selecting between yellow and black. In the end, the result was shocking: everyone chose black speakers.

Imagine that if Sony really developed yellow as the main color of the speaker according to the interview results at that time, its sales would likely be seriously affected.

When developing products, companies are prone to falling into the quagmire of "self-perspective". They are accustomed to using internal logic to deduce demands, but often ignore the separation between user behavior and expression.

2. There is also a need called "the customer thinks he needs it"

The client may not know what they really need. In most cases, when we ask customers what they want, the answers we get are most likely products based on their existing cognition, rather than real needs. This so-called "product" may not solve their actual problems at all.

Just like before the birth of a car, if you ask the customer what you want, they will most likely answer that they want a faster and stronger horse. The reason why customers raised such demands was because travel was facing problems such as slow speed and limited carrying capacity at that time, and horses were the main tool in their perception to solve travel problems. Due to this cognitive limitation, customers will naturally raise demands for better horses. But essentially, what customers really desire is an efficient and convenient way of travel. The advent of cars has completely broken the original cognitive limitations of customers and met their potential needs for efficient travel, which is difficult for customers to clearly express before the invention of the car.

It is important and necessary to understand the "needs" behind "the products designed by customers themselves".

2. From "You think the customer needs" to "the customer really needs"

From in-depth research on customer feedback faults in early stages, to developing special washing machines such as "sweet potato washing machines" for the characteristic needs of different regions, to quickly responding to netizens' demands for "lazy washing machines", Haier has always taken action around customer needs; Wuling Hongguang has innovatively launched a convertible, accurately capturing the pursuit of personalized travel by specific consumer groups...

They sell not products, but solutions. Companies such as Haier can have such high execution and strong induction response to these needs, which is also inseparable from the benefits of IPD (integrated product development).

In the IPD system, it is important to emphasize that to "do the right thing", we must pay attention to the key link of "demand management". Demand management runs through the entire process of product conception to online and even subsequent optimization, determining whether the product can accurately meet market demand and realize commercial value.

How should we make the products that our customers really need?

1. Listen to the real voice

Psychologist Kahneman proposed that there are two systems in the human brain: an intuitive system that relies on experience to respond quickly and a rational system that requires deliberate activation for logical analysis.

In the process of demand collection or identification, rapid intuitive responses are more likely to cause judgment bias.

For example, the demander may ignore the real scenario because of existing products in a certain market. For example, customers want "social functions like WeChat", and the final product is delivered by a "WeChat Plus". But what they might actually need is "lightweight interaction between acquaintances".

In addition, the way demands express their needs will also affect the product manager's perception. For example, "I hope to reduce the operational steps by 50%" and "Improving the efficiency by 50%". Although the goals are consistent, the former may lead to process simplification, while the latter may trigger rethinking of the technical solution.

Even when a user says "fear of data loss", his essential need may be "needing a reliable backup mechanism" rather than a purely technical implementation.

2. Use tools to penetrate the appearance of demand

After understanding these deviations, we can use various structured methods to combat intuitive deviations. For example, the motivation behind demand is continuously questioned through the "5Why analysis method":

"I need a more beautiful interface," the client said.

Why 1：Why beauty is important？ → Because the user thinks the current interface is not professional。
Why 2：What is the specific manifestation of unprofessionality？ → Confused color matching，The operation button is not obvious。
Why 3：Confused color matching如何影响使用？ → Causes the key functions not found during use。
Why 4：What are the consequences of not finding the function？ → Reduce usage efficiency，User churn。
Why 5：Is there any other way to improve efficiency？ → Optimize information architecture，Rather than just adjusting the vision。

Ultimate demand may shift from "beautiful" to "information-level optimization".

For example, through the customer journey map, you can describe the stages and action steps that users must perform in order to achieve their goals, the user's emotional changes in the entire process, unhappy touch points, or unmet needs, etc., to more clearly restore the context in which the demand occurs:

At what time and place do users use this function/product?
At a certain stage, in addition to a certain action, what other tools or services should be cooperated with?
What about the user's thoughts, problems, and emotional states (such as anxiety, excitement, ups and downs, etc.) at this stage?
……

After reaching the most essential needs, it does not mean that the judgment is effective, nor does it mean that the products or solutions provided based on these needs can be recognized by users/markets.

Therefore, after the requirements are clarified, it is even more necessary to verify the solution assumptions proposed based on this requirement:

Through prototype demonstration, relevant parties can intuitively experience the initial form and functional implementation methods of the product;
Quickly verify whether the core requirements are true through Minimum Feasibility Products (MVPs);
Through A/B testing, the differences in user behaviors of different programs were compared;
Through buried point analysis, track the user's actual usage path, rather than relying only on user feedback.

3. Break the thinking limit of "what you see is what you get"

Kahneman points out that we are easy to believe and easily satisfied with known information and ignore unknown information. Therefore, when creating solutions based on needs, product managers must be more aware of the limitations of their own perspective.

In order to solve the decision-making bias caused by this perspective, the IPD system has created a unique cross-functional team collaboration mechanism to ensure the correctness of the demand solutions through a multi-faceted perspective. Among them, the Product Development Team (PDT) brings together professional personnel from multiple functional departments such as marketing, R&D, sales, and finance. Team members can conduct a comprehensive review of the needs solutions from their own professional perspective:

Market personnel determine whether the plan meets market trends and customer expectations and ensures that the product is market-competitive;
R&D personnel evaluate the feasibility of the program at the technical level and avoid raising unrealistic needs;
Financial personnel conduct economic analysis of the plan and evaluate whether the cost investment and expected returns of product development and operation are reasonable;
……

Through full communication and mutual cooperation among team members, different views and opinions can be collided, so as to form a comprehensive, in-depth and accurate understanding of the required solutions and effectively ensure the correctness and comprehensiveness of the solutions.

From "what customers say" to "what customers need", this is not the end point, but the logical starting point of product integration development.

Put down the presets and go deep into the scene. As Haier founder Zhang Ruimin said: "The customer's problem is the development topic."

For enterprises, they need to abandon their inherent cognition, go deep into actual life and work scenarios, and explore unmet needs.

So, is your business doing it?