[ ABOVE: Peterbilt Motors’ reinvented cab ]
The customer’s voice
Most have heard that “Voice of the Customer” is an important aspect of innovating for value. However, VOC is often equated with sending a marketing person out to meet with customers to report to R&D what is wanted. Or perhaps it may mean conducting surveys in hopes of discerning relative importance among design candidates.
But at a recent product development conference, I heard from several innovation directors who felt prior attempts at gathering customer “voice” were insufficient. Kimberly-Clark Corporation argued that one must move beyond innovating for the customer, and instead innovate with the customer. K-C’s Huggies division has seen great successes with their MomInspired co-creation program. K-C provides $15,000 grants to eight parent entrepreneurs who present intriguing new product concepts, but lack the resources to establish real business scale.
One mom presented her new sippy cup design. She told the grant panel that toddlers struggled to get the last liquid from the cup. She installed a wedge inside to allow complete emptying without the child needing to point the cup toward the ceiling. K-C not only funded the grant, but helped her patent the Tilty cup idea, and then in-licensed it as a brand extension. This crowdsourcing style of investment in the consumer community has helped expand the Huggies brand beyond diapers and wipes, and enhanced sales of current offerings though its positive brand experience.
A second example of the importance of in-depth customer understanding comes from Peterbilt Motors. With significant sales decline, Peterbilt embarked on a journey to excellence fueled by gathering personal customer understanding. Engineers and marketing managers were deployed to actually live for one-week assignments at major truck stops. They observed and interviewed drivers conducting business and life. They also assigned engineers and designers to travel with the drivers to experience the cab, understand the challenges and discuss desires for improvement. They then innovated around what the customer does, instead of what had been imagined from the confines of a conference room.
Having lived the customer experience, they engineered world-class chassis and engine platforms, and then focused on ride comfort, quiet and sleeper features. Different-sized sleeper modules are equipped for ready connection to the cab platform, right down to the surround sound. Peterbilt configurability allows a customer to log on to their web site and stylize a sleeper with the amenities of a home den. The process of personal design is similar to selecting cabinet modules at IKEA. Peterbilt describes the result as local tailoring. They build brand loyalty, focus on platform, and protect the designs with patents.
At the other end of the size and price scale is India’s Tata Motors. Tata set out to produce a $2,500 car, called the Nano, which would appeal to customers who could presently afford motorbikes. Unlike the previous fiascoes by Ford resulting from introducing a stripped-down Western vehicle, Tata focused heavily on the Indian market and culture to design a car from the ground up. They partnered with Cummins to rethink the powertrain. They relied on modularity in order to address the very wide range of the existing customer base. Modularity permitted the company to enter the market at the low-priced end, but later add components as customers want to upgrade; or place those directly in the car if desired when ordered.
They went one step further in their innovative consumer thinking: Tata actually trained distributor installers in isolated rural regions. These third-party partners permitted customers to tailor products across a highly variable economic environment, while building Tata brand and community loyalty. The close relationship with rural installers permitted Tata and Cummins to collect deep, even personal, customer insights by utilizing a broad independent distributor network.
While the no-AC, manual transmission, lightweight cars were designed to reach the distant poor, the configurability of modules and the personal contact method has been applied to urban settings as well. Instead of erecting fancy showrooms, and dealer service, the use of third-party partners to connect with the customer and install boxed components has permitted Tata and Cummins to win locally in an ever-growing customer base.
Scientists and engineers are keen to fill whiteboards with enticing ideas during brainstorming sessions. But no matter what products are being envisioned, trying to convince consumers to adopt your ingenious innovation is not sustainable. Instead, first identify the customer needs by living the customer experience, and then decide how to provide the desired innovation. Better yet, innovate in the customer setting or partner with the customer.
