The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

14.4. Practical Aspects of Gathering Customer Needs

Regardless of which technique is used to gather customer needs, the development team will be interacting with customers, which always involves some risk (see Chapter 16). By structuring and planning the interactions carefully, firms can increase the probability that both the team and the customer will benefit. This will increase the likelihood that a particular customer will agree to work with the firm in the future.

14.4.1. How Best to Work with Customers

The most basic principle behind working with customers is that they should be involved so that the firm can learn from them. If product features already are defined, and customer needs are gathered after that, to "prove" they have specified the "right" product, they likely are wasting money. Gathering customer needs makes sense only if the task is completed before the product is specified.

Customers will be most willing to interact with the development team if they see how they can benefit. For most household markets, that generally means that customers receive money for interviews or observation periods. Development teams investigating business-to-business markets may find that they can provide benefit to customers by helping them gain an understanding of their own end customers.

Most firms have a portfolio of products that they have already commercialized. If the product development team collects customer needs themselves rather than contracting with a market research firm ...