Skip to main content

The Customer as a Co-Creator



Businesses often forget that the customer is the end user and they determine the success of any product, service or organization. Designing products with the customer in mind is important but using customer’s feedback in innovating those products can create higher income streams. Reaching out and asking customers for their feedback can take different forms in today’s world. 

The product development process includes ideas generation, screening of ideas, development and testing, business analysis, marketing testing and commercialization (Finch, 2012). New ideas are reviewed for feasibility and then then tested to ensure they work. A thorough analysis of the profitability and marketability of the product is conducted before mass production. 

Great ideas can come from many different locations. An often untapped source is the customer themselves. Product reviews, focus groups, and questionnaires were some of the tools to gain insight into products. As Internet technology develops new ways of collecting and evaluating customer information is beneficial. 

The process of evaluating customer preferences can be as easy as reading online and asking customers directly or as complex as conducting living labs and designing in-depth psychological experiments to understand latent factors. Collecting that information and using the feedback loop to improve products/services over time is beneficial. 

Product and service development takes time. Listening to customer needs helps to develop higher levels of understanding of consumer needs that should be funneled through product/service design to increase customer satisfaction rates. Without this input significant resources are invested into items that don’t appeal to customers and won’t generate significant returns on investment.

Finch, J. (2012). Managerial marketing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Meaning of A Boundless Moment by Robert Frost

A Boundless Moment by Robert Frost He halted in the wind, and — what was that Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost? He stood there bringing March against his thought, And yet too ready to believe the most. "Oh, that's the Paradise-in-bloom," I said; And truly it was fair enough for flowers had we but in us to assume in march Such white luxuriance of May for ours. We stood a moment so in a strange world, Myself as one his own pretense deceives; And then I said the truth (and we moved on). A young beech clinging to its last year's leaves. The poem is one of seasons changing and the cycle of life. Each May the bloom comes out and brings life to the death of winter. The poem is about a single moment when the characters see that life has changed. The layers of meaning can be deep but on the surface it appears Robert Frost is discussing nature and its cyclical momentum.   Everything in nature moves through patterns. The poem indicates that

Art Review: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

The Kiss is Gustav Klimt’s most famous and well known painting. Produced in 1908 in Vienna, Austria and incorporated oil and gold life on the canvas ( 1 ). This was unique for his time and represents both tile works with Asiatic influence. The painting and the romance it brings forward is still wonderment to onlookers. The picture depicts a passionate relationship between a man and woman in a sort of perfect place.  The couple is embracing, bodies entwined, wearing robes of wealth and decadence. It provides linear constructs of the Art Nouveau style and the movement of arts with crafts ( 2 ). The male is square and masculine while the woman painted is in curves to represent femininity. The couple is a pair with the woman and man equal in stature. They are in a field of flowers and appear to rise above it.  To many this painting represents the concept that love has no bounds. Social position or worldly wealth cannot hide what goes on under the fancy clothes and standard m

The Nine Parries of Saber Fencing

The Parry is important for defending against attacks and offers an opportunity to counter attack. Without learning parries it will be difficult to effectively compete in fencing. Your body will be generally open to seasoned fencers. Practicing defending against attacks using multiple parries is important for creating the highest levels of competitive skill. The most common parries used are Parry of Four, Parry of Six, Parry of Seven, and Parry of Eight ( 1 ). They are designed to protect your right side, left side, lower stomach, middle of your stomach. They are parries designed to cover the core areas of your body and help you defend against the majority of fencing attacks.   Prime: Stops a cut to the chest. Seconde: Stops a low cut to the flank Tierce: Stops high cut to the flank Quarte: Stops high cut to the chest. Quinte: Stops cut to head. Sixte : Stops cut to head. Septime: Stops cut to back. Octave: Stops cut to flank. Neuvieme: Protects Back Mic