How do you measure and improve the user satisfaction and social impact of your sustainable product designs?

1 User satisfaction

User satisfaction is the degree to which a product meets or exceeds the user's requirements, preferences, and emotions. To measure user satisfaction, you need to collect and analyze feedback from your target audience, both before and after launching your product. You can use various methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, usability tests, and reviews, to gather quantitative and qualitative data about your user's opinions, experiences, and behaviors. You can also use metrics, such as net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and customer effort score (CES), to quantify user satisfaction and loyalty. Based on the feedback and metrics, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your product, and make improvements accordingly.

2 Social impact

Social impact is the effect that a product has on the well-being of the people and the planet. To measure social impact, you need to define and track the outcomes and indicators that reflect your product's social and environmental goals. You can use frameworks, such as the theory of change, the logic model, and the social return on investment (SROI), to plan and evaluate your product's impact. You can also use tools, such as the social impact canvas, the impact management project, and the global reporting initiative (GRI), to measure and report your product's impact. Based on the outcomes and indicators, you can assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your product, and make adjustments accordingly.

3 Sustainable design principles

To ensure user satisfaction and social impact with your sustainable product designs, you should adhere to sustainable design principles throughout the product development process. These principles focus on user-centeredness, life cycle thinking, circular economy, inclusivity and equity, and systemic and holistic approaches. Specifically, you should design products that are useful, usable, and desirable for your users; that minimize the use of resources, energy, and waste; that can be reused, repaired, refurbished, or recycled; that are accessible, affordable, and fair for all people; and that take into account the interconnections and interactions between different elements and stakeholders.

4 Sustainable design methods

To apply the sustainable design principles, you need to use some sustainable design methods that can help you generate and evaluate ideas, prototypes, and solutions that are sustainable and impactful. Eco-design integrates environmental aspects into product design, such as reducing material use, improving energy efficiency, avoiding toxic substances, and enhancing recyclability. Biomimicry mimics nature's patterns, strategies, and principles to create products that are adapted, resilient, and regenerative. Social design focuses on the social aspects of product design, such as improving quality of life and fostering social inclusion. Co-design involves users and other stakeholders in the product design process through co-researching, co-ideating, co-prototyping, and co-testing. Design for behavior change aims to influence user behavior and attitude towards the product through nudging, persuading, motivating, or educating.

5 Sustainable design tools

To support sustainable design methods, you need to use some tools that can help you visualize, analyze, and communicate your product's sustainability and impact. These include Eco-compass for comparing and selecting materials based on their environmental performance; Life cycle assessment (LCA) for quantifying and assessing environmental impacts throughout the product's life cycle; Social life cycle assessment (SLCA) for quantifying and assessing social impacts; Carbon footprint for measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and Impact map for visualizing and communicating intended and unintended impacts. By using these methods and tools, you can measure and improve the user satisfaction and social impact of your sustainable product designs, creating products that are beneficial to your business as well as to society and the environment.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?