Don’t just ask customers what they want: innovate with them

When businesses consider new and innovative products and services, it nearly always involves conducting research and examining the market and competitors’ actions. It sometimes involves including their customers in the decision-making process, to have a say in what products and services they will love. But this may not always be done at the right time and in the right way.

We help organisations bring in the voice of their customers during the ideation process. This process of co-creation is part of a human-centred approach to design, developing a deep understanding of customers’ experiences and creating products and services that surprise and delight them. It supercharges the ideation process.

Here are five reasons to bring your customers into the conversation.

1. Cultivating empathy. By asking customers to tell their stories, we’re able to move beyond abstract data points to real-life narratives. At a recent ideation workshop, Tesco Whoosh (a new same-day home delivery service) listened to customers’ everyday experiences: Rita’s stressful morning routines, Steven’s honesty (“I’m just lazy”), Anand’s urgency (“It needs to be faster than legs”). This brought human context to the situation and to the fundamental needs that the service needed to meet.
   
   
2. From critique to creativity. As Bill Gates once said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Customer frustrations provide a window into a world that’s ripe for creation. These tensions are a catalyst for idea generation. In design and co-creation workshops, the most compelling concepts often emerge from addressing customers’ biggest frustrations and aspirations head-on: “Don’t show me what I can’t order.” It becomes more powerful when it’s coming from the person in front of you, as opposed to a slide on a deck.
   
   
3. Context is king. Customers will bring the context and motivation that data often lacks. During a recent co-creation workshop with a high street retailer, we heard tons of valuable feedback on why a customer would place a quick-delivery order, the context in which they’d use it, their usage aspirations and the frustrations and moments that had surprised or delighted them. This context provided rich ground for the team to turn a finding into an actionable insight.
   
   
4. Eye up the competition. Customer viewpoints on competitor experiences are interesting, especially learning about what’s valuable and the services that set the gold standard. Doing mystery shops with customers is eye-opening. Our biggest surprise at one of our grocery workshops was ordering mince pies and getting a piece of broccoli as a substitute. It is a massive learning about supply chain failings (generally in quick-delivery groceries).
   
   
5. Inclusive ideation. Involving customers in the ideas process is not just about gathering insights. It requires empowering customers to prioritise the most pressing problem statements and most promising ideas. One way we do this, for example, is customer dot voting, bringing in different customer groups to actively participate in shaping the direction of the product.

If you want an innovation partner who’ll help you deeply understand your customers and make extraordinary breakthroughs, email Conor McNicholas, Impact Director, on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.