By: Keir Hart
Pure. Unadulterated. Power. That’s what Voice of Customer, or VOC can give you if done early and done right. The power to truly understand your product. The power to have pure insight into the minds of your customers. The power to match your products and services perfectly to solve the needs of your target market. VOC is the bedrock foundation of any great product. You need VOC to hit a homerun. You customers want VOC to avoid buying junk. VOC doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming, but it does have to get done and done well.
First, what is VOC? Trendy development processes and gurus have their own specific definition of Voice of Customer, but in reality, VOC is really just collecting first (and sometimes even second) hand information to completely understand your customer’s pain points. Taking the time and focus to get inside your customer’s heads by, sometimes literally, walking in their shoes. Try out your own products. What works? Most importantly, what doesn’t work? Ask complete strangers what they think. Good VOC is unbiased, real, and often visceral. You want to capture those emotions for two reasons. First, people buy based on emotion. All the research in the world is great, but ultimately people buy based on how they feel about a product and company. Second, emotion is attractive in a product. The iphone is basically just a box with a circuit board inside. However, there are people lining up around the block when the next generation comes out. Why? Because the product looks sexy and cool. Apple has done a great job of designing emotion into their products. How does getting the next iphone make you or someone you know feel? Smart? Sophisticated? Youthful? How do you want people to feel about your product or service?
It is really tough to find VOC information without getting out of the building and talking to your potential customers. You can’t google what Bill thought of his new golf club and you can’t lookup what Jane felt about her new car. You need to go ask. Unfortunately, you can’t just ask any old way. You have to be careful to not bias people with your questions. Furthermore, your questions need to pull out what they are thinking. It really doesn’t need to be more formal than that. While some industries might require an eventual formal Usability Study or Validation, you can begin with something simple and quick. Think, low cost. Below are some common questions we hear and some quick tips to help get a short study off the ground and get you inside the minds of your customers.
Who should we ask?
The list of people you can ask about your product is virtually limitless. A better question may be who NOT to ask. In order to get fair, unbiased opinions it is important to avoid asking solely friends and family. Instead, focus on your target market. Where do they hangout? Go there and make sure it is ok you set up shop for a few hours. Then, start asking people about the problem you are trying to solve.
What should we ask?
What you ask, more specifically, the way you ask it is almost as important as who you ask. Avoid leading questions at all costs, and where possible make them open ended. You want people to provide details about their thought process. What are they looking for when you ask them to find that icon on your new app? How do they feel about the fabrics you picked? The more details the better. They really can’t talk too much.
Where should we do this?
Ideally, you would be asking people your questions where they would be using the product. However, this can’t always be done. In that case, find a more controlled and quieter environment where people easily come in and avoid distractions. Turn off the phones. Close the blinds. Keep things calm and friendly.
How long should this take?
The best part about these type of short studies (sometimes called a Formative Study) is that they are fast. 30 minutes is a very long time. At FPD we like to have people perform 2-3 specific tasks with a prototype and then sit back and watch what happens. We record where they get frustrated and any potential work arounds. Plan on being surprised.
How much will this cost?
Since these studies are quite short, the cost can be kept low as well. We recommend compensating people for their time. Often, a gift card to a popular store works well for most folks. If you need more technically skilled people, your costs might go up a bit, but should still be affordable. While having a total group of say 20-30 people would be spectacular, keeping the number to 5-10 is more manageable and keeps costs low. That being said, avoid the trap of using focus groups to save time and money. It has been shown that these can induce group think and actually skew your results. Instead, interview people in groups of 1-2 at most, then pool the results at the end.
Good VOC is not tough to get and the upside is unbelievable. After trying it a time or two, you’ll quickly see the value and wonder why you didn’t do this sooner. If all else fails, there are a number of companies out there who can help you run a quick and dirty VOC campaign. Remember, product development is iterative. Get a stake in the ground, refine your product or service, and repeat until you succeed.
If you would like to learn more,
please check us out at Flying Pig Designs and let us know how we can
help.
Keir Hart is a mechanical engineer and product development coach with 15 years of experience in consumer and medical device design. FPD is on a mission to grow a passionate, high-performing, human centered design company focused on improving the world around us and delivering clean, quality, manufacturable designs to our customers. If you need design assistance, be sure to look us up at www.flyingpigdesingsllc.com or on LinkedIn.