How do you generate and test innovative ideas for your client using SCAMPER?

1 What is SCAMPER?

SCAMPER is an acronym that stands for seven ways of thinking creatively about an existing product, service, process, or problem. Each letter represents a different type of question that you can ask to generate new ideas or improve existing ones. For example, you can ask: What can you substitute with something else? How can you combine two or more elements? How can you adapt or copy something from another context? How can you modify or change the shape, size, color, or other attributes? How can you put the product or service to another use or market? What can you eliminate or simplify? How can you reverse or rearrange the order or sequence?

2 How to use SCAMPER for your client?

To use SCAMPER for your client, you need to first understand their problem or challenge and their goals and constraints. Then, you can use the SCAMPER questions to generate a list of possible ideas that address the problem or challenge. You can use the questions in any order or combination, depending on the nature and scope of the problem. You can also use the questions to refine or expand your ideas, or to generate more ideas from existing ones. For example, if your client wants to increase customer loyalty, you can ask: How can you substitute a feature or benefit that customers value more? How can you combine different loyalty programs or rewards? How can you adapt a successful loyalty strategy from another industry or market? How can you modify the customer journey or experience to increase retention? How can you put your product or service to another use or segment that needs it? What can you eliminate or reduce that annoys or frustrates customers? How can you reverse the roles or expectations of customers and providers?

3 How to test your ideas using SCAMPER?

Once you have a list of ideas generated by SCAMPER, you need to test them for feasibility, relevance, and impact. You can use the same SCAMPER questions to evaluate your ideas and identify potential risks, assumptions, and gaps. For example, you can ask: What are the costs and benefits of substituting a feature or benefit? How can you measure the effect of combining different loyalty programs or rewards? What are the barriers or opportunities of adapting a successful loyalty strategy from another industry or market? How can you validate the customer response to modifying the customer journey or experience? How can you assess the demand and competition for putting your product or service to another use or segment? What are the trade-offs or consequences of eliminating or reducing something that annoys or frustrates customers? How can you test the viability and desirability of reversing the roles or expectations of customers and providers?

4 How to run experiments and get feedback?

To test your ideas using SCAMPER, you need to run experiments and get feedback from your client, customers, and stakeholders. Experiments are small-scale tests that help you learn and iterate quickly and cheaply. Feedback is the data and insights that you collect from your experiments and that inform your decisions and actions. To run experiments and get feedback, you need to follow these steps: Define your hypothesis, or what you want to learn or prove. Design your experiment, or how you will test your hypothesis. Execute your experiment, or how you will collect data and evidence. Analyze your results, or how you will interpret and evaluate your data and evidence. Learn and iterate, or how you will use your results to improve your ideas or generate new ones.