Identifying Customer Needs for Product Development

Identifying Customer Needs

1. Gather Raw Data from Customers
2. Interpret Raw Data
3. Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy
4. Establish the Relative Importance of the Needs

Details

1. Gather Raw Data from Customers

Interviews
Focus groups
Observing the product in use


Document interactions with customers

Audio recording
Notes
Video recording
Photographs

2. Interpret Raw Data in terms of Customer Needs

Express the need in terms of what the product has to do.

3. Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy

The data in step 1 and 2 can give any where between 50 to 300 needs. These needs are to arranged hierarchically into primary needs and related secondary needs & tertiary needs.

4. Establish the Relative Importance of the Needs

The needs arranged into hierarchy have to be given priorities for decision making regarding what to include and what not to include in product specification.

https://sites.tufts.edu/eeseniordesignhandbook/2013/customer-needs-identification-2/



http://stephansorger.com/pdf/NewProductDevelopment_Ch4_IdentifyCustNeeds_v1.pdf


Updated  2 August 2016,  12 December 2015