HUMAN-CENTERED PRODUCT PLANNING AND DESIGN:MARKETING PHASE

MARKETING PHASE

The purpose of the marketing phase is introducing product concepts to potential customers, users, and other stakeholders. In addition, the purpose of this phase includes planning for measurements of viability, acceptability, and validity. Further, initial measurements should be made to test plans, as opposed to the product, to uncover any problems before proceeding.

It is important to keep in mind that the product and system concepts developed in this phase are primarily for the purpose of addressing viability, acceptability, and validity. Beyond that which is sufficient to serve this purpose, minimal engineering effort should be invested in these concepts. Beyond preserving resources, this minimalist approach avoids, or at least lessens, ‘‘ego investments’’ in concepts prior to knowing whether or not the concepts will be perceived to be viable, acceptable, and valid.

These types of problem can also be avoided by pursuing more than one product concept. Potential stakeholders can be asked to react to these multiple concepts in terms of whether or not each product concept is perceived as solving an important problem, solving it in an acceptable way, and solving it at a reasonable cost. Each person queried can react to all concepts, or the population of potential stakeholders can be partitioned into multiple groups, with each group only reacting to one concept.

The marketing phase results in an assessment of the relative merits of the multiple product con- cepts that have emerged up to this point. Also derived is a preview of any particular difficulties that are likely to emerge later. Concepts can be modified, both technically and in terms of presentation and packaging, to decrease the likelihood of these problems.

Methods and Tools for Measurement

How does one measure the perceptions of stakeholders relative to the viability, acceptability, and validity of alternative product and system concepts? Table 3 (see page 1303) lists the appropriate methods and tools for answering this question, as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

Questionnaires

This method can be used to obtain the reactions of a large number of stakeholders to alternative functions and features of a product or system concept. Typically, people are asked to rate the desir- ability and perceived feasibility of functions and features using, for example, scales of 1 to 10. Alternatively, people can be asked to rank order functions and features.

As noted when questionnaires were discussed earlier, low return rate can be a problem. Further, one typically cannot have respondents clarify their answers, unless telephone or in person follow-ups are pursued. This tends to be quite difficult when the sample population is large.

Questionnaires can present problems if they are the only methods employed in the marketing phase. The difficulty is that responses may not discriminate among functions and features. For ex- ample, respondees may rate as 10 the desirability of all functions and features.

This sounds great—one has discovered exactly what people want! However, another interpretation is that the alternatives were not understood sufficiently for people to perceive different levels of desirability among the alternatives. Asking people to rank order items can eliminate this problem, at least on the surface. However, questionnaires are usually not sufficiently rich to provide people with real feelings for the functionality of the product or system.

Interviews

Interviews are a good way to follow up questionnaires, perhaps for a subset of the population sampled, if the sample was large. As noted earlier, questionnaires are a good precursor to interviews in that they cause interviewees to organize their thoughts prior to the interviews. In-person interviews are more useful than telephone or e-mail interviews because it is much easier to uncover perceptions and preferences iteratively during face-to-face interaction.

Interviews are a good means for determining people’s a priori perceptions of the functionality envisioned for the product or system. It is useful to assess these a priori perceptions independently of the perceptions that one may subsequently attempt to create. This assessment is important because it can provide an early warning of any natural tendencies of potential stakeholders to perceive things in ways other than intended in the new product or system. If problems are apparent, one may decide to change the presentation or packaging of the product to avoid misperceptions.

Scenarios

At some point, one has to move beyond the list of words and phrases that describe the functions and features envisioned for the product or system. An interesting way to move in this direction is by using stories or scenarios that embody the functionality of interest and depict how these functions might be utilized.

These stories and scenarios can be accompanied by a questionnaire within which respondents are asked to rate the realism of the depiction. Further, they can be asked to consider explicitly, and perhaps rate, the validity, acceptability, and viability of the product functionality illustrated. It is not necessary, however, to explicitly use the words ‘‘validity,’’ ‘‘acceptability,’’ and ‘‘viability’’ in the questionnaire. Words should be chosen that are appropriate for the domain being studied—for ex- ample, viability may be an issue of cost in some domains and not in others.

It is very useful to follow up these questionnaires with interviews, or at least e-mail queries, to clarify respondents’ comments and ratings. Often the explanations and clarifications are more inter- esting and valuable than the ratings.

Mock-ups

Mock-ups are particularly useful when the form and appearance of a product or system are central to stakeholders’ perceptions. For products such as automobiles and furniture, form and appearance are obviously central. However, mock-ups can also be useful for products and systems where ap- pearance does not seem to be crucial.

For example, computer-based systems obviously tend to look quite similar. The only degree of freedom is what is on the display. One can exploit this degree of freedom by producing mock-ups of displays using photographs or even viewgraphs for use with an overhead projector.

One word of caution, however. Even such low-budget presentations can produce lasting impres- sions. One should make sure that the impression created is such that one wants it to last. Otherwise, as noted earlier, one may not get an opportunity to make a second impression.

Prototypes

Prototypes are a very popular approach and, depending on the level of functionality provided, can give stakeholders hands-on experience with the product or system. For computer-based products, rapid prototyping methods and tools have become quite popular because these methods and tools enable the creation of a functioning prototype in a matter of hours.

Thus, prototyping has two important advantages. Prototypes can be created rapidly and enable hands-on interaction. With these advantages, however, come two important disadvantages.

One disadvantage is the tendency to produce ad hoc prototypes, typically with the motivation of having something to show stakeholders. It is very important that the purpose of the prototype be kept in mind. It is a device with which to obtain initial measurements of validity, acceptability, and viability. Thus, one should make sure that the functions and features depicted are those for which these measurements are needed. One should not, therefore, put something on a display simply because it is intuitively appealing. This can be a difficult impulse to avoid.

The second disadvantage is the tendency to become attached to one’s prototypes. At first, a prototype is merely a device for measurement, to be discarded after the appropriate measurements are made. However, once the prototype is operational, there is a tendency for people, including the creators of the prototype, to begin to think that the prototype is actually very close to what the final product or system should be like. In such situations, it is common to hear someone say, ‘‘Maybe with just a few small changes here and there . . .’’

Prototypes can be very important. However, one must keep their purpose in mind and avoid rabid prototyping! Also, care must be taken to avoid premature ego investments in prototypes. The frame- work for design presented in this chapter can provide the means for avoiding these pitfalls.

6.2. Summary

During the naturalist phase, the goal was to listen. In the marketing phase, one can move beyond just listening. Various methods and tools can be used to test hypotheses that emerged from the naturalist phase, and obtain potential stakeholders’ reactions to initial product and system concepts.

Beyond presenting hypotheses and concepts, one also obtains initial measurements of validity, acceptability, and viability. These measurements are in terms of quantitative ratings and rankings of functions and features, as well as more free-flow comments and dialogue.