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Understanding and Identifying Customer Needs
Considering the customers’ desires is essential in the product’s
success and it will pull product development into a better and
more focused direction.
Technologist’s Problem – product development
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undertaken with no basis for market acceptance, very
common in engineering community.
Akia Morita (1986), founder of Sony Corp., “our plan
is to lead the public to new products rather than ask
them what they want. The public does not know what
is possible, we do”
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Customer Expectations
Customer expectations increase over time, it is very
important to stay in touch with customers and to
understand their preferences. The more customer expects,
the harder it is to keep delighting the customer.
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Example: Mobile phone
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Types of Customer Needs
General categories based on how easy the customer can express
them and how rapidly they change.
Example: Digital Camera
• Direct Needs – customers have no trouble declaring those needs
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they are concerned about.
Cost, good pictures, ease of operation
• Latent Needs – not directly expressed by the customer without
probing.
Obtaining prints, easy viewing on PC, deleting
pictures, viewing pictures
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Types of Customer Needs
• Constant Needs – these needs are intrinsic to the task of the
product and always will be. When product is used, this need is
always there.
Nighttime picture taking, number of digital images, …..
• Special needs – apply only to a smaller market segment within
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the entire population.
Under water application, rapid picture taking
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The Process
• Collecting raw data from customers
• Interpreting the raw data
• Grouping the needs into primary, secondary,
… needs
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• Establishing the relative importance of the
needs
• Documenting the results for the entire design
team
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The Goals of the Process
• Ensure that the product is focused on customer needs
• Identify all needs, explicit and hidden
• Make sure that no critical need is missed
• Creating a comprehensive list of the needs for the design
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team
The idea is to create a high-quality information channel
between the customers in the target market and the
developers of the product.
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Gathering Customer Needs
Discuss the needs with a single customer, one at a time in the
customer’s environment where the customer uses the product and
feels comfortable
Guideline for interviewing
Select the actual users of the product to interview and introduce
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yourself and state the purpose of the interview.
• When and why do you use this product?
• Walk us through a typical session using the product.
• What do you like about the existing product?
• What do you dislike about the existing product?
• What issues do you consider when buying this product?
• What improvements would you make to the product?
• What would be a reasonable price tag for the product?
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Gathering Customer Needs
Guideline for interviewing
• Go with the flow – Wherever the customer takes you,
follow along, and ask why and how questions
• Use visual stimuli and props – Bring models
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of new product, competitor’s products.
• Suppress preconceived notions about the
product technology – do not bias the customer with any
concept or technology. Uncovering a need that is
independent from the solution used helps in concept
engineering.
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Gathering Customer Needs
Guideline for interviewing
• Have the customer demonstrate – don’t just ask
about the product, observing the customer in action
provides helpful information.
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• Be alert for surprises and latent needs – pursue any
surprise answer with a question.
• Watch for nonverbal information – look for facial
and body language.
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Gathering Customer Needs
Questionnaires – use the same guideline as for the
interview to develop a list of questions. Prepare the
questions carefully. Then organize the responses
provided. Make the list short.
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Focus groups – a moderator facilitates a session with
a group of customers in the product developer’s
environment. The design team may observe the session
behind a two-way mirror. Very common in food industry.
Look for facial and body expressions.
Customer complaint
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Comments on Gathering Customers needs
Questionnaires provide the lowest quality of information. The
responses only pertain to the questions asked, not necessarily
what the customer wants to tell the design team. Low
percentage of returns.
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Focus groups are more costly to attain the same amount of
information
Conducting interviews is the most efficient way of gathering
quality information. Hauser (1993), reports that interviewing
nine customers for one hour each will obtain over 90% of the
customer needs that would be uncovered when interviewing
60 customers in a focus group.
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Designing Survey / Questionnaire
Questionnaires questions fall into three categories:-
a) Attitude question – how customer feel and think about
something
b) Knowledge question – how much customer knows the
specific about the product/service
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c) Behavior question – contain phrases such as “how often”,
“how much” and “when”
1. Do not use jargon
2. Focus precisely on specific topic
3. Use simple sentences
4. Do not lead customer towards the answer that you want
5. Avoid questions with double negatives – create
misunderstanding
6. Always include the choice of Other 13
Designing Survey / Questionnaire
Questions can have the following types of answers
Yes – no – don’t know
Strongly agree – mildly agree – neutral – mildly disagree –
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strongly disagree
Scale of 1 -5
Rank order – list in descending order of preference
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Example: Electric Wok
An electric wok redesign is desired. Current electric woks are
inadequate and do not satisfy the demands of customers to
conveniently cook authentic Chinese food. The original wok is a
six-quart electric wok. A competitive wok is a traditional wok,
used over a gas flame..
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Electric Wok
Interview Data Template (Likes/Dislikes)
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Interview Data Template – Elect. Wok
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Interview Data Template – Elect. Wok
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Questionnaire Template
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Questionnaire Template
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Quality Functional Deployment (QFD)
• Quality function deployment (QFD) refers to:
1. determining what will satisfy the customer and
2. translating those customer desires into the target design.
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• The idea is to capture a rich understanding of customer
wants and to identify alternative process solutions.
• This information is then integrated into the evolving product
design. QFD is used early in the design process to help
determine what will satisfy the customer and where to deploy
quality efforts.
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House of Quality
• One of the tools of QFD is the house of quality, a graphic
technique for defining the relationship between customer
desires and product (or service).
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House Of Quality Example
Your team has been charged with designing
a new camera for Great Cameras, Inc.
The first action is to construct a House of
Quality
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House Of Quality Example
Interrelationships
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Competitors
Analysis of
What the
Relationship
Customer
Matrix
Wants
What the Technical
Attributes and
Evaluation
customer
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wants Customer
importance
rating
(5 = highest)
Lightweight 3
Easy to use 4
Reliable 5
Easy to hold steady 2
Color correction 1
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Low electricity requirements
Aluminum components
Auto focus
Auto exposure
Paint pallet
Ergonomic design
House Of Quality Example
Wants
What the
Customer
Matrix
Technical
Evaluation
Relationship
Interrelationships
Attributes and
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Analysis of
Competitors
28
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House Of Quality Example
Interrelationships
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Competitors
Analysis of
What the
Relationship
Customer
Matrix
Wants
High relationship (5) Technical
Attributes and
Evaluation
Medium relationship (3)
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Low relationship (1)
Lightweight 3
Easy to use 4
Reliable 5
Easy to hold steady 2
Color corrections 1
Relationship matrix 29
we can do
Relationships
between the things
Low electricity requirements
Aluminum components
House Of Quality Example
Auto focus
Auto exposure
Paint pallet
Ergonomic design
Wants
What the
Customer
Matrix
Technical
Evaluation
Relationship
Interrelationships
Attributes and
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Analysis of
Competitors
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KDU University College Confidential & Proprietary | © Copyright 2013
House Of Quality Example
Interrelationships
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Competitors
Analysis of
What the
Relationship
Customer
Matrix
Wants
Technical
Attributes and
Evaluation
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Lightweight 3
Easy to use 4
Reliable 5
Easy to hold steady 2
Color corrections 1
Our importance ratings 22 9 27 27 32 25
Weighted
rating 31
House Of Quality Example
Interrelationships
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Competitors
Analysis of
What the
Relationship
Customer
Matrix
Wants
Technical
Attributes and
Evaluation
Company A
Company B
How well do competing
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products meet customer
wants
Lightweight 3 G P
Easy to use 4 G P
Reliable 5 F G
Easy to hold steady 2 G P
Color corrections 1 P P
Our importance ratings 22 5
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House Of Quality Example
Interrelationships
How to Satisfy
Customer Wants
Competitors
Analysis of
What the
Relationship
Customer
Matrix
Wants
Technical
Attributes and
Evaluation
Failure 1 per 10,000
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Panel ranking
Target values
(Technical
2 circuits
attributes)
2’ to ∞
0.5 A
75%
Company A 0.7 60% yes 1 ok G
Technical
evaluation Company B 0.6 50% yes 2 ok F
Us 0.5 75% yes 2 ok G 33
House Of Quality Example
Low electricity requirements
Aluminum components
Ergonomic design
Auto exposure
Company A
Company B
Paint pallet
Auto focus
Completed
House of Lightweight 3 G P
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Easy to use 4 G P
Quality Reliable
Easy to hold steady 2
5 F G
G P
Color correction 1 P P
Our importance ratings 22 9 27 27 32 25
Failure 1 per 10,000
Panel ranking
Target values
(Technical
2 circuits
attributes)
2’ to ∞
0.5 A
75%
Company A 0.7 60% yes 1 ok G
Technical
Company B 0.6 50% yes 2 ok F
evaluation
Us 0.5 75% yes 2 ok G
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House Of Quality Sequence
Deploying resources through the
organization in response to customer
requirements
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Quality
plan
Production
process
Production
Specific
process
components House
components
4
Specific
Design House
characteristics
characteristics
3
House
Design
requirements
2
Customer
House
1
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Design Input Specification
User, Design Input
Requirements Designer,
representative Specification
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Specification design team
or marketing
Qualitative, Quanitative,
non-technical technical
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Design Input Specification – Waterfall Model
User
Needs
REVIEW
Desig
n
Input
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Design
Proces
s
Design
VERIFICATION Output
VALIDATION Product
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Design Input Specification
• Should cover what the product should do and not
how
• Is more detailed
• Is quantitative
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• Is Validatable
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Design Input Specification Example
1. Seating
1. 200 seats + 10 spaces for wheelchairs (Per Disability
Discrimination Act part IV)
2. Each seat must have dimensions 450 wide × 420 deep
× 450 high, back height 800
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3. Each seat must cost less than £35
4. Each seat must have a work surface no less than 300 ×
200
2. Access
1. 3 walkways of minimum width 1200 - fire safety and
disabled access - Building Regulations 1991 part M
2. 3 Doorways (2 at rear and 1 at front)
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Design Input Specification Example
reqmt specification No detail
3 whiteboard
size 3.1 Min size 3×2 m
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colour 3.2 White – best
visibility
surface 3.3 Wipe clean –
alcohol based pens
weight 3.4 < 40 kg – cavity
wall
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