The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

16.6. Problems in Customer Interaction

Despite many advantages there are problems and impediments that might occur during the customer interaction process. These impediments include:

• Overcustomization of a new product: Listening to customers too closely may create a risk of overcustomizing new products. To avoid this risk, the emerging trends in the marketplace as a whole need to be weighed against individual customer suggestions. A customer's positive reactions to a product concept should not be construed as an intention to use or buy that product because no money is changing hands; thus, no real commitment is necessary. Hence, one should probe customers' initial positive reactions to the product concepts through further market studies.

• Confidentiality: Customers, through the course of interaction, might get access to certain confidential information and proprietary skills. There is the potential that these customers might reveal the information intentionally or unintentionally to competitors. An interaction program requires mutual trust and open, collaborative relationships, as well as standards for capturing and exchanging information.

• Identification of customers: Locating appropriate customers for interaction is another major problem because an intimate knowledge of the market and customer contacts is necessary. A firm also needs to consider all different types of customers, end users, and even customers' customers for interaction, as illustrated in the following example. The ...