When good ideas lead to bad products
Dr. Hemang Shah ??
LinkedIn Top Voice | I share insights on innovation and strategy | Incubate startups in India | Here to learn
Once at a hotel, I brushed my teeth with a weird, bitter toothpaste. Certainly woke me up only to realise that I had brushed with a moisturizer. The root cause was a common mistake in innovation projects.
The journey for an idea to a product can exclude some perspectives.
The hotel had decided to use uniform tubes for tooth paste, shaving gel, and moisturizer. Same color, size, and appearance. Only the text printed was different. In a state when I'm literally waking up, I picked the wrong one. It's kind of interesting how the hotel would have made such a decision.
At large scales, it is tempting to minimize variations.
Imagine the hotel's sourcing just for a bathroom - brushes, paste, gels, moisturizers, soap, shampoo, conditioners, and so on. The number of SKUs at the hotel level are mind boggling. They can source all from different companies, which comes with its own challenges. Different prices, supply chain challenges, and product packaging. I believe this hotel chain would have tried to minimize the variation and also do some cost optimization.
One thing they may have forgotten to check is the customer usage.
In a fully awake state like at work, you may have spotted the product differences. There's no way anyone would mistake a moisturizer text for tooth paste. The question is did they test when the customer is groggy and absent minded.
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User testing has to consider all possible ways in which they product will be used.
Typically, we have user groups test products and spot any issues. In addition to the test plan, it is critical to factor the operational environment of the user. Are they going to use your product in an office, on a phone, with family, alone, or in my case, in a bathroom in a half awake state?
Your customer journey mapping needs to capture the operational state of the user.
An extreme example is the usage of emergency products such as fire extinguishers or first aid kits. Their usage will be under stressful environments. If the instructions or the functioning isn't easy, then it's a failed product.
They journey of an idea to a product is an exciting one.
Make sure that you are ever conscious of the user's operational state.
That's it for today.
Happy Ideating!
Hemang.
Director - OASIS Labs | Pharma & GUMMIES Contract Manufacturer | 15+ Years in Pharmaceutical Excellence | Launching GummyCrush – India’s Most Delicious Gummies | Entrepreneur | Member - Young Indians & ASCENT Foundation
1 个月Interesting read Dr. Hemang Shah ?? Understanding the customer journey is key to avoiding failures. It’s essential to align ideas with real needs.
Similar to the 3 bottles stuck to the shower wall, same colors with tiny print that says shampoo, conditioner and soap. The user will not have his or her reading glasses in the shower so we guess the order and most of the time it is right. The good idea is to save a bit of money but a bad product that results have unhappy outcomes
LinkedIn Top Voice | I share insights on innovation and strategy | Incubate startups in India | Here to learn
1 个月Well said, Manish Badani, PhD. I agree with your observation on the kits too. Not a fun exercise especially with wet hands :-)
Intellectual Property Professional
1 个月I agree. It is important to seek customer feedback and if feasible conduct pre-launch trials. Many a times, I struggle to open the pack of dental kit in hotels; you need a scissor to open the pack and not all customers would carry a scissor. It is not just about a product, even for services it is important to seek customer feedback. As an example, I got few calls from a private bank as part of their customer engagement initiative. I categorically informed that these calls were not appreciated even routing my emails through the CEO of the bank and finally RBI Governor. Stop making assumptions on behalf of the customers and instead focus on WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS?