There’s nothing wrong with asking former customers why they dropped your service. But this research can’t substitute for in-depth interaction with customers (and non-customers).
Newsletters tagged "Customer inquiry"
Volume 16, #3, May 2018
How Comcast might have kept my business, and how you can learn to keep your customers
Volume 16, #2, April 2018
Stop guessing what customers are thinking
Often, we don’t have a clue what life is like for other people. That’s why relying on personal experience as a basis for creating and marketing products goes only so far. The only way we understand other people is by asking questions.
Volume 15, #8, November 2017
How Intuit’s practices have helped it outlive competitors
Intuit has been exceptionally successful over the last several decades. But the exceptional thing about Intuit is that it doesn’t have to be exceptional. There’s no reason why your company can’t adopt the customer-related practices that have made Intuit a standout.
Volume 15, #6, August 2017
What product developers can learn from major league pitchers
Fall is a glorious time for baseball fans, with the regular season wrapping up in September and a month of post-season play in October. But every season is high-stakes season for product developers, who need to deliver consistently or risk disappointing customers and falling behind competitors. We offer some lessons that the product development world can take from baseball.
Volume 15, #1, January 2017
The future of innovation belongs to those who can dream in their customers’ worlds
You can check all the usual boxes—great execution, solid management, well-integrated teams, stellar new product development processes. Yet if you can’t see what’s coming in three, five, or ten years, you not only risk losing market share but also suffering the complete disintegration of your company, your industry, and your business model.
Volume 14, #8, December 2016
Arguments for and against using the customer as the unit of measure for defining new products
It doesn’t matter what you call what the customer is doing. It only matters that you capture the emotional struggle surrounding that activity.
Volume 14, #7, November 2016
Understanding the zeitgeist of product development (and the electorate)
Conducting a survey before understanding the requirements—and without an image of what it is like to be the voter—gets the flawed results we saw in this year’s polls. Diving deeply into the populace enables far more accurate predictions.
Volume 14, #5, August 2016
Emotion as a key to creating change
It’s no longer headline news that emotion plays a role in decision making, even in business. How can you take advantage of this fact to help people in your organization understand customers at a deep, intuitive level?
Volume 13, #7, December 2015
A party-goer's four-part guide to interviewing
Even if you'd rather swallow hot pokers than engage in small talk, there are a few things you can learn from party conversation about interviewing customers effectively.
Volume 13, #4, August 2015
Watch what can happen when you give your market research organization a seat at the innovation table
You probably have a good idea about what makes product development innovative. You may already have a plan to create a culture of innovation in your development organization. But are you overlooking a key part of the business that could contribute substantially to product development innovation?