Questioning the Consumer

The article Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design makes a good point—“customers are so accustomed to current conditions that they don’t think to ask for a new solution”. Therefore, it states that questioning them isn’t as effective as observing them in their everyday life with the product. This may be true is some cases, but it is sometimes difficult to know what the person is thinking or what the situation may be. I think that questions after observing are imperative in certain situations when the outside world needs to know exactly why the consumer did what they did. HEB, for example, conducts marketing research by having researchers follow customers around for their typical shopping experience. When certain behaviors arise, the researcher takes note and then asks the consumer why they did what they did. For example, a customer picks up several loaves of bread and looks at the labels of each. She sets each one down before finally making her final decision. If someone was merely observing this behavior, they could have several ideas as to why the behavior occurred such as calorie count or the number of fat grams. If someone actually asked her why, then she could state that she was comparing the grams of fiber in each. This could help the store decide to carry more breads with high fiber or bread companies could consider making more high fiber products. This technique could be used with several types of products and could give designers more insight into what kind of product would best fit the needs of the consumer. While people might not be able to form new solutions on their own, they could maybe be given some options and be questioned right after the observation and problem situations take place. Some people don’t really think about their problems until they arise and they are often forgotten afterwards. With the example in class, someone could have observed the walkie talkie being stuck in the boy’s pocket. Rather than making and spending tons of money on a product that they think may work (the glove), they could have instead asked the boy what he thought would have been more convenient while giving him suggestions and options. They could have realized that the boy would have preferred to have a bike clip to hold his walkie talkie on. This could save organizations both time and money while producing a product that consumers would actually use. One problem that researchers always have to be cautious of, however, is that some consumers sometimes tell people what they want to hear. This is why the questions must be focused on options of further products rather than on the current product. If researchers make it apparent that they want innovation and change to better serve the consumer and their problems, customers would be more willing to answer their questions for their future change. If consumers are only asked after creating a new product, they want to spare hurt feelings most of the time.