5 good reasons to trust user feedback in an innovation project
Author: Estelle Gollety
User Market Research - Ixiade
User Study l Reading time: 6 min
Whether you are an individual project leader, in a small or large company, innovate remains a risk to take. Le parcours de création et de développement d’un produit ou service innovant est jalonné d’incertitudes. Malgré cela, les personnes qui vont entourent vous demanderont toujours des certitudes sur votre projet et sur son potentiel : votre banque, vos collaborateurs, votre direction, vos partenaires et investisseurs… Entre études de marché, business plans et recherches documentaires, tous les moyens sont bons pour reduce the risk to take by innovating, but it is on the side of the users that you will find the right answers to your questions! Discover here the 5 good reasons to trust user feedback in your innovation process.
1. Taking into account the uses is essential to create a meaningful innovation
In the innovation process and more specifically in the creation and design of a new product or service, the focus is often mainly on the technological aspect: on which technologies is my innovation based? Which components should be used? But this technical and technological focus sometimes makes us forget the essential: the innovation is intended to be used by users. It is therefore essential that it makes sense to them. And it is the research and construction of this meaning qui permettra aux utilisateurs d’accepter le changement induit par l’innovation, de l’adopter (l’acheter) et de se l’approprier (l’intégrer dans ses pratiques).
Pour s’assurer de créer une innovation qui fasse sens, il est know the future users, who they are, what their aspirations are, what their expectations are, what their problems are. All of this is necessary to be able to put the answers provided by the innovation object (how it responds to the users' expectations and solves their problems) into perspective. By surveying its future users, exploring their current uses, their problems and expectations, it is easy to créer une proposition de valeur qui fasse sens.
2. Poor user apprehension is the first factor of failure in innovation
In innovation, there are many failures: 80% of innovative products or services do not make it past the development phase. Among those that do and reach the market, 75% do not make it past the first year of commercialization. In total, 90% to 95% of innovation fail. Although this percentage varies from ones sector to another (for example, it is higher for new technologies and consumer goods), failure is still too common and its causes too numerous. When we look at the pitfalls of innovation, a dozen factors of failure can be identified. Some are specific to the company and its organization (internal problems, lack of methodology, psychological bias, etc.), others are specific to market knowledge (insufficient knowledge, poor consideration of the ecosystem, bad timing, etc.), but les plus déterminants sont liés à la mauvaise appréhension des futurs utilisateurs de l’innovation.
En effet, parmi les causes d’échec liées aux utilisateurs, on retrouve :
- An mauvaise définition du produit / service, due to the lack of inclusion of users in the process, incomplete feasibility analyses or the lack of consideration of regulations and standards
- An connaissance insuffisante de l’utilisateur et des usages, which can lead to the design of a product that is completely out of line with real uses or to poor estimate of the cost / benefit ratio for users.
- An erreur de ciblage dans le développement, which can be an obstacle to overcoming Moore's chasm, which means the difficulty of leaving a minority of receptive targets (innovators, early adopters), which give a misleading impression of success and which do not represent the majority of consumers who, in turn, condition success on the market.
3. Users determine the speed of diffusion of innovations in the market
As previously explained, targeting errors can be critical in innovation, because it is precisely the users who determine the speed of diffusion of innovations on the market. Indeed, once commercialized, the innovative product or service will diffuse to users, but not in the same way depending on their profile. Not everyone is inclined to test new products or change their habits, and this observation has allowed the modeling of different behavioral profiles when faced with change.
Lorsqu’une innovation est mise sur le marché, les premiers utilisateurs seront des innovateurs et des early adopters, people who are technology enthusiasts, visionaries and who are above all looking for performance. These user profiles are easy to convince, because they are open to new things but they represent only a small part of the individuals. All le challenge repose donc sur le fait d’atteindre les autres profils et de passer ce fameux gouffre de Moore the pragmatists of change and the pragmatists of continuity (who represent a large majority of individuals but who need to be "convinced" by the innovation to change their habits) and, to a smaller extent, the objectors, who are more difficult to reach and less numerous. In other words, it is the profile of the users that your innovation targets that will determine the speed of access and diffusion on the market and therefore, its commercial success..
4. Users are the best position to evaluate innovations intended for use by them
Who better than future users to evaluate innovations that are ready to be launched on the market? As targets and potential future customers of a new product or service, users are the people who will interact directly with the innovation and integrate it into their practices. For ensure this acceptance and future adoption, studies are an essential step, but not any kind of study. The "usage studies", based on the way users project themselves in user, imagine using the innovation, effectively allow to anticipate the possible mismatches between the innovation object and the market..
Plus précisément, c’est en évaluant the acceptability and desirability of an innovation among its future users, in particular through qualitative collection methods and dedicated expertise, that we can ensure that the user feedback is very rich. These methodologies allow to check if the innovation is in adequacy with the know-how, the practices, the identity and the environment of the user (acceptability) and if it arouses the right emotions (desirability). The RyM Usage Check study model, centered on the user, allow us to evaluate the potential success of innovations and provides strategic and operational recommendations to maximize the chances of success. Using this type of study allows project leaders to take a step back from their innovation, to avoid being both judge and jury, to create a climate of trust in which users can freely share their feelings and perceptions, and to see their project from a new angle. Using this type of study allows project leaders to take a step back from their innovation, not to be both judge and author, to create a climate of trust in which users can freely express their feelings and perceptions and dans lequel les utilisateurs pourront exprimer librement leurs ressentis et perceptions et to approach their project from a new angle..
5. Strong image is based on the user's experience
The fact of soliciting users to share their opinions on a given innovation shows that real importance is given to what they thinkAdditionally, including future users early in the innovation process, for example when developing new offerings, allows to create strong and sustainable relationships. By giving them value, by giving them a voice in the decision-making process, future users will feel listened to and develop a sense of attachment to the brand, the product or the company at an early stage. It is also a way to gain potential future ambassadors who, through word of mouth, will communicate the image of a trusted company, concerned about its users and their experience.
If user feedback has been taken into account in the innovation process, the experience they will have with the new product or service once it is on the market will be fully satisfactory and in line with their expectations and needs. And we know that a successful experience is the key to conveying a strong and positive image..
As you can understand, the reasons to listen to your users' feedbacks and more generally to integrate your future users in your, are numerous. These user feedbacks bring a real added value to an innovation project and allow to innovate in the right way, provided that the right methodologies are used! So if you want to know more about these methodologies, do not hesitate to contact our RyM experts.
