Ole Witthøft

User-driven innovation (version 2.0) also listens to those who are not fans

Today 12 people (whom I don't know) get a pair of speakers as a gift, without knowing why. It sounds like an idea that originated in the neighbour's greenhouse with home-grown hemp, but is actually a 100% clean feature. Check this out.
I'll give it to you one more time. Today, 12 people (that I don't know) are going on summer vacation. Their company (which I have never visited) is closed for the next 14 days and today the employees are meeting to wish each other a happy holiday. You know, something with an ice cream at the company's expense and a chat about colleagues' holiday plans and such. Nothing fancy. The unusual occurs when one of the bosses interrupts the holiday chatter with a message that's probably going to sound: "Uh, guys. You need to get a present before you go on vacation. It's some wireless speakers that can play music from your phone, without a cord. There's one pack for each. Happy holidays!". End bam.

Valuable input for product development

Because this is more than a gift. It's an attempt to grasp something with people and use human behaviour for product development. The recipients just don't know it yet. They go home (hopefully happy) with their new speakers and enjoy the holidays, not knowing that their actions might contribute valuable knowledge to future product development.

Is listening to customers enough?

If we take a quick look at innovation over the past 10 years, the trend is for companies to listen more to customers. In the old days, customers would queue up to be the first to try the new gadget and companies could bask in the attention. Today, the picture is reversed. A company can create a revolution without anyone really taking notice. Customers have so much else to do. It has turned attention into a commodity and many companies have closed their doors to earn customers' precious commitment. In this context, I will, in all modesty, mention my own award-winning crowdsourcing project Speaker Q113 at Ingeniøren, as a wild example of how far you can go when you remove the No Access sign from the development department and invite people to join in. My world will never be the same again after that experience. It's that big. There are amazing resources out there with engaged customers and if your company hasn't long since stepped down from the pulpit and out into the world, you better get moving. Now. Engaged and satisfied customers are far better at creating new customers than all the ad campaigns you'll ever be able to afford. That's just the way it is. We'd rather listen to our friends when we need to buy new stuff and trust in advertising is in a vertical decline, only going down a black abyss. I have my fingers so deep in user-driven innovation that I'm starting to see a downside to the otherwise excellent method. The idea is that when you invite loyal users into your store, you may get input you wouldn't otherwise get, but you only get it from those who like you. The ones who understand your project. Those who already think you represent a truer truth. The trap is that you start believing their applause. Because then you close your eyes to the fact that most people walk past your shop without so much as noticing it. You are not interesting to them and something is preventing them from going in. Maybe they don't get you ..... and maybe that's a shame, both for them and for you. The easiest thing to do here is to look away and party on with the loyal customers who understand you and build on the good relationships. My summer project is to find out if it's possible to generate input for product development from those who don't know my product at all.

It's user-driven innovation version 2.0

The 12 people who go home with a pair of wireless speakers today will relate to the speakers in some way. Some will throw themselves at them and enjoy every second, others will shrug and forget about them. Both scenarios are instructive, but the real engagement will probably be somewhere between scalding hot and freezing cold. What is instructive is that these people have been given the speakers without having any interest in them. But I wonder if they don't relate to them anyway. In a month's time, the boss will call the 12 people together again and reveal the plan. By then the holiday will be over and he will ask people for their honest opinion about the speakers. Their honest opinion of the good and the bad. What was easy? What was hard? Did a summer spent in the company of a good pair of wireless speakers shift their music experience? Were the instructions easy to understand? Did the technologies make life easier? Did the design work? Was the operation intuitive? Did they enjoy the music more? Put another way: Does a stranger experience the good things? After all, there's nothing new about the product's friends understanding and appreciating every detail as it is. After all, they are the friends. But what about the uninitiated who experience the product without knowing it in advance?I'll get back to you when I know. The uninitiated may carry the key to a future success that the initiated cannot see.
Share this page
Ole Witthøft
Ole is the founder of System Audio. His 3 greatest passions are music, design and technology. Every day, Ole is working on some kind of projects, and you find him in the workshop, in the production, behind a computer or on one of his many presentations around the world.
User-driven innovation (version 2.0) also listens to those who are not fans | SA

Join thousands of music lovers!

Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe Blog English

Join thousands of music lovers!

Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe Blog Danish NY