(dis) satisfiers, delighters & cultural diversity

I have always loved to travel. It inspires new thoughts and ideas. Currently traveling in the US, I realized that satisfiers and dissatisfiers are strongly driven by local habits and circumstances.

Lets first clarify 3 things you need to understand when working on product / service innovation:

• Dissatisfiers are product / service characteristics that customers take for granted. When probed, they will not immediately tell you they feel it is important but when the characteristic is absent they become unhappy and usually start complaining. They are aware of the characteristic, but simply assume it is there. When there is more of it or it is better executed, they do not necessarily become more satisfied.
• Satisfiers are product / service characteristics that make customers happy when they’re there, but do not necessarily make customers unhappy when they are less well executed or even absent.
• Delighters are product / service characteristics that customers do not expect and that evoke a strong response. These are the things they usually start talking about to others and generate word of mouth. Delighters are very specific to target groups though: what might cause a strong positive response with one target group, might cause a negative response with another.

Complex? It even becomes more complex when taking into account cultural perspectives. Let’s look at some examples.
In the US, availability of parking space at a restaurant is a dissatisfier and complementary valet parking is a satisfier. In major cities in Europe however availability of parking space is a satisfier and can even be a delighter depending on the circumstances (imagine the center of Amsterdam).
In the US, taking the food you didn’t finish with you in a doggy bag is a dissatisfier while in Europe this might be a delighter.
In the US, the presence of cup holders in basically anything you buy is a dissatisfier while in Europe this would be a satisfier or a delighter depending on the target group. I just bought a car seat for my 8 months old son that has 2 cup holders. I wonder why a baby needs 2 cupholders, and also find that it makes the chair very bulky. In the context of European cars, that is. For an American, who usually has a much bigger car and takes drinks on the go all the time, it might make perfect sense. That is probably also why the average buggy has 4 cupholders: 2 for the kid and 2 for the parent.

How can this help you in product / service innovation?
Explore products and services in other markets and map out product / service characteristics linked to local behavior. Consider what the effect will be if you include this characteristic in your offering. Does it fit with the behavior of your target consumer or might it evoke new behavior because you address a latent need? Will it be a satisfier or a delighter? Satisfiers are worth considering if they are easy to realize and cheap to implement. If you are able to clearly communicate the benefit to your customer, it might offer you a competitive advantage. However the characteristics that you should really be focusing on are delighters. They help you to create outstanding products / services for specific target groups that generate positive word of mouth and that start ‘selling themselves’. Increasingly so with new social media in which consumers want to share experiences. Give your customers something to talk about!

IKEA Digital camera

Wow, with a little humor. Ikea is introducing a non-superior digital camera. This must me cheap.

Step 1 with the Nike fuel band

Every journey starts with a first step.

Just finished my first day, using the nike fuel band. Its funny how a simple device can change the choices you make in your live. Today I walked home. After one day I had broken my personal best. Nike makes it very easy to feel good about your life.
Thanks.

Are you criminal enough to Innovate?

Innovation is not a crime.

Although:

Good innovation is unfair. You bend the rules of the games the world is playing.

You take something that is not yours and claim it as your own. Steel it from the world, when it’s still unprotected when it is un-locked.

Or worse you give a-way something for free and make people addicted to your proposition.

Good innovation is like a crime.

• Bend the rules,
• Find the gap,
• Be invisible in the the act.
• Act swiftly, when no-one is watching.

Don’t be stupid, be prepared. hire professionals.

~ Sincerely, your partner in crime.

Does more energy lead to a better life?

What is fueling our progress in society, is it money or is it energy?

Question: what do you rather have. A world without money or a world with out energy.

This is a know brainer, isn’t it.
I’m waiting for the Nike Fuel band. The Nike fuel band is measuring the amount of movement / energy you produce. In a few days I can share the effect on my life. For now the only thing I have is the pre purchase experience: Movies!!

Make it count is coming:

Nike fuelband:
Is more energy a better life?

Lets find out. (to be continued)

Microsoft, are you with me?

During my travels around the world, I have written a travel story.
My writing is close to a miracle, since I have been struggling with dyslexia for my whole life.

The story is a search for excellent user experiences, that could inspire innovation. The term used for this is Customer Journey. As a company you should aim for uplifting interactions with the user. As if on every single moment you communicate:

• We care for you.
  
  
• You have made the right choice.
  
  
• We are with you in the user experience.
  
  

When I came back to Amsterdam I transferred my writings to Microsoft Word, a program I have been using for a long time. Word is probably the most used word processor on the planet and the cash cow for Microsoft.


You would expect that Microsoft would have mastered the art of excellent customer experience.

WRONG!

This is what I get when I open my document for the first time:

This is how I interpret it:

Microsoft has been in competition with Apple for years. Apple is the company that writes "Welcome" on the inside of package when you open the box. When you have just purchased a product from them, this small note is such a delight to read.

Microsoft should take a leaf out of Apple's book.

Suggestions for less irritation:

Microsoft wake up, you are losing my love.

Waarom zou ik jou wel geloven?

Heb je 30 minuten om aan de slag te gaan met jouw eigen 'reason to believe’?

De film duurt 18 minuten en je krijgt voorbeelden van Apple, Dell en andere bedrijven. Je leert van andere branches om je eigen ‘reason to believe’ scherper te krijgen.

Neem 10 minuten de tijd om je eigen reden op te schrijven. Deel het met anderen.

Tip: doe deze oefening eens met je collega en/of je manager.


Veel plezier,
Marieke

Learnings from the National Sustainability Congres 2011: The right approach for sustainability

Recently I visited the Nationaal Sustainability Congres (30/11/2011 in the Congrescentrum 1931 in `s-Hertogenbosch). Several parties acknowledged the difficulty of finding the right starting point for your organization.

Leen Zevenbergen, CEO from Qurius, explained how his organization tackled this issue. Their solution in four words: just start doing it. After a year you evaluate the findings.

Benefits of this approach:

• You create momentum. It is easier to change direction when you are actually moving.

• You gain experience. In a variety projects, so automatically you will find out what works in your organization and what not.

• You stimulate enthusiasm: your employees will choose the projects that they feel positive about and where they expect results.

• After a year you have created several success stories. This will motivate your employees to continue and accelerate.

The key outtake of the entire day:
Stop talking about sustainability. Just do it.

Focus Groups

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” – Steve Jobs, Businessweek, 1998

This quote was cited often after Steve Jobs’ passing. A brave, bold statement showing that he does not believe in marketing conventions. However, he somehow seemed to miss the complete point of Focus Groups.

Focus groups are not solely meant to ask consumers what they want in a new product. They can provide you with deeper knowledge from consumers. Your aim should not be to hear the best product from them but you should really try to understand them.

An easy way to obtain this consumer knowledge is to let them talk about concrete things: a product, an idea, their daily routine, etc. When consumers can talk about something concrete (e.g. a product, or product idea, or a daily routine, etc.) they feel more at ease. The job of the moderator is then to persuade the participants to reflect on their behavior. This opens up inspiring discussions about why and how participants make certain decisions. These are the areas where you will find interesting opportunities for innovation.

When Henry Ford said "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse” he was right; asking consumers what they want will never result in inspiring results. However when he would have asked them why they would like to have a faster horse, chances are he would have found interesting patterns.

So don’t be fooled by the strong words of Steve Jobs: focus groups can provide you with innovation opportunities, as long as you don’t just ask what consumers want.

Inspiration: The People's Supermarket (London)

"For the people by the people"
A while ago I visited one of the most remarkable supermarkets ever. Today, exactly 18 months ago they openend their doors and are throwing a party for it as we speak. Anyway, it was very innovative, but not in the way one would expect at all... No fancy lighting, self scan or other high tech shopping solutions to be found. Not even close! First of all I had to actually find the supermarket (currently there is only one in the world) and secondly I had high expectations, but was a bit dissappointed when I entered the supermarket. It was small, not very organized, and not well designed at all. But as said before: the innovation here is in the thought behind the supermarket and especially in the way of running it: for the people by the people. This sign in the store explains the basics:


So this is nice and all, but what is the aim and mission of this community initiative? One of the founders explains and says: "The People’s Supermarket is not for the exclusive use of members. The aim is to convert regular customers to Members when they see the quality of the produce, the lower prices and the vibrancy of the supermarket."

"It has 8 key objectives:
♣ Create a commercially successful social enterprise that is not grant/fund dependent.
♣ Helping families and low income groups in the community buy better quality fresh produce.
♣ Enable a local community to shape the provision of their local food retail offer.
♣ Provide training opportunities for the long term unemployed or socially excluded.
♣ Minimise food waste.
♣ Act as a catalyst to improve community cohesion.
♣ Through education encourage healthier eating practises.
♣ Supporting British farmers and food producers."

"We are a cooperative store that seeks to deconstruct the way mass food retailers do business and reshape it along what we feel are more ethically and environmentally sustainable lines. By bringing communities and people together."

For more information read the entire co-founder speech or have a look at the short animation

My learning (over and over again): innovation isn't always about the newest of the newest, the highest tech available, futuristic design or finding alternatives for 'dull' hand work. Sometimes it is just about not accepting the status quo, or going back to basic consumer needs or staying much closer to original products or even letting go of the usual business models and come up with less money driven models, but with other kind of benefits. It may sound easy, but it takes a lot of guts to turn around 180 degrees.



Most important of all: do it, implement it, walk the talk. Otherwise your ideas will just be ideas; nothing more, maybe even less