Customer needs

Question 1

When does the analysis of customer needs begin in the product development process?

Answer 1

It begins in development process

Question 2

What is the end result/goal with a customer needs analysis?

Answer 2

A customer needs list

Question 3

Who is a customer?

Answer 3

• The individual or organisation that purchases the product (goods or service)
• Client, buyer, purchaser (=kund)
• Internal customer
• External customer

Question 4

Who is a user?

Answer 4

• The human being involved in a use activity
• The end-user (=användare, brukare)
• Primary user = the end user
• Secondary user = e.g. the person who is to repair or maintain the product
• Tertiary user

Question 5

Who is a lead user (von Hippel)?

Answer 5

• Experience a new product ahead of others
• Stand to benefit greatly from the new product
• Often have useful ideas to share
• Can articulate their needs better than the average user

Question 6

Who is an extreme user?

Answer 6

• Use the product in special environments or have individual circumstances that require them to have an adapted product
• Extreme users needs may reflect latent needs of mainstream users

Question 7

Who is a stakeholder?

Answer 7

• A person, group or organization that has interest or concern in a situation/organisation etc.
• Someone who is involved in and/or affected by the course of action
• Primary stakeholders may be investors, employees, suppliers, customers…
• Stakeholders can also be society, community etc.

Question 8

What is the definition of a customer or user requirement?

Answer 8

• The customer’s/user’s own formulation of (something) in the customer’s/user’s own words such as “easy”, “natural” and other abstract terms.
• User requirements are those requirements which the user has for the artifact in use and which are manifested by the problems arising in context and/or articulated as problems, wishes or desires by the users

Question 9

What is the definition of a technical requirement?

Answer 9

The customer/user requirement transformed into a “measurable” engineering term or specification.

Question 10

Explain the iceberg phenomenon

Answer 10

Only a very small amount of the total list of customer requirements are immediately available (or available through the traditional market study)

Customers might not tell you what they want, for example:
- Requirements associated with problems of which the customer is not aware due to habits, “compensating behaviour”
- Emotional and semantic requirements
- Requirements associated with culture and socio-historical aspects
—> observations are essential

Question 11

What classifications of customers needs are there?

Answer 11

• Explicit: easy for customers to express, widely known and understood, likely to be already fulfilled
• Unfulfilled: easy for customers to express, known to be difficult to address, generally not fulfilled
• Latent: hard for customers to express, not yet widely understood, currently unaddressed. When latent needs are addressed, products may delight and exceed customers’ expectations.

Question 12

Explain the KANO model

Answer 12

The Kano model proposes three types of need and requirements that need to be addressed from a competitive perspective

1. Basic needs/requirements
2. Performance needs/requirements
3. Excitement needs/requirements