Top managers’ common problem: lack of consumer understanding
Setting the scene - Mark Gottfredson: The Breakthrough Imperative
According to Mr. Gottfredson, modern managers are facing enormous pressure. Leading a company has become remarkably difficult, more so than ever before. About 40% of business leaders are replaced in two years time. And the main reason for the difficulties? The customer! From the business point of view, consumers are behaving badly: people are changing their spending focus all the time at an increasing pace. Brand loyalty is something that doesn’t exist anymore, nor does the word fit in the modern person’s dictionary – at least not in the traditional meaning.
As Mr. Gottfredson points out, a single badly designed collection could potentially destroy an entire company. Another major issue is the complicatedness of your product or service portfolio – the modern consumer doesn’t want to put their thinking hat on; we’re looking for quick enjoyment and instant gratification.
Companies do not understand their customers
To keep it simple: top management don’t understand their customers. People are looking for experiences, and companies are having difficulties to deliver. This is kind of funny on one hand, and very frightening on the other. There is an army of internal departments and research & design firms that promise to solve the problem.
In the Idean world, the solution is elementary: we’re talking about combining User Experience Research and Design to work efficiently, fast and smoothly. Read more about the Idean Design Approach - IDA.
Either the message is not heard, or we evangelize in the wrong tables – probably both, to some extent. Unfortunately, customer understanding is often just another paragraph in the marketing or R&D departments’ plans. For some reason, this is highlighted in the digital domain – consumer insights rarely end up on the top managers’ table. Luckily, there are positive exceptions. And we have to admit that the research domain has made some major miscalculations, as well; few of us remember that the iPod was first lynched by the user and consumer research. It was someone called Steve Jobs, who had the vision and courage to continue with the product. Consumer info is not all that you need - you have to have a clear vision where to go. Sounds self-evident, but is often not.
Another problem is that creditable research reports often end up decorating bookshelves. This is something that is definitely not the customer’s problem. There is no point in producing reports if they can not be utilized easily to the fullest. If we end up with reports and study results gathering dust and not being put to use, something has gone badly wrong. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that knowledge is produced but it never ends up on the right tables - sometimes because of unfortunate company policies.
What you can do about it
With the phenomenon is identified - do we have any possibilities to tackle these issues?
Yes, we do! First of all: strong vision is needed! Only then you have the possibility to utilize the customer information.
Next, we basically have two options:
1) you can build user experience competence inside the company. This is something that will take about 2-3 years if you’re starting from scratch. It could sound like a long period, but try to find world class competence in the consumer research and design areas, which both are facing lack of talent, at least in Northern Europe. And then make those talents play in the same band. Believe me, this sounds easier than it really is.
2) The other obvious alternative is using a subcontractor. This is something that has to be considered in a totally new way. If we really want to understand the customer base and create new product or service innovations, or simply produce information about the most important customers, the subcontractor is near the company’s core; at least we should be. And we’re talking about areas where the traditional mindset in subcontractor relationship doesn’t work anymore. To be able to make this happen, the mode of working should be a close, co-operative partnership. This way, we can really work together and produce business critical information.
A totally new era is coming up, where we can take full advantage of the possibilities that crowdsourcing brings. But we’re not there yet, and the biggest changes have to be made in the attitudes towards the subcontractor role. And as we all know, changes like this will not take place overnight.
P.S. If you haven’t come across the following article Investing in UX , please check the link and find out more about the development in value of the companies believing User Experience Design.
Jesse
