A lightweight way to uncover user need.
(sorry for that click bait title, I couldn’t help myself).
We need to do six weeks of discovery, multiple user interviews and observations. Crunch the data. Insight takes time and is expensive. Right?
Well, it can. But it doesn’t mean it needs to.
I’ve conducted hundreds of user interviews, across many sectors, countries and markets. Have run months of diary studies, observational sessions and listened in to countless customer support calls.
But I always come back to the most simple of research techniques, ask the question why five times.
- Why are you buying a drill?
To make a hole in my wall
- Why are you making a hole?
To put a picture up
- Why are you putting a picture up?
To make my daughter’s new nursery look good
- Why do you need to make your daughter’s new nursery look good?
Because my wife is due to give birth in two weeks and the clock is ticking
(I could ask why again but I think we all know the answer to that question)
Where we might stop at creating a product to make holes in walls the real value to the customer here is helping make a room look good in a short time.
Creating a product and a business around that is the gap in the market, that is the opportunity, that is the innovation.
Drills are commoditised. So are easy wall fittings. As you move down the why ladder the greater the opportunity. Selling a fully complete nursery set and fitting is something many a panicked parent might consider buying.
Try this yourself with the world your product operates in. Ask your customers. You just might be surprised.
True insight, and true innovation comes from getting to the source of the need and getting there quickly.
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