Understanding end consumers is a challenging thing, because you can’t simply ask what they want, need, and value. Recall Henry Ford’s famous quip that if, at the dawn of the automotive industry, he’d asked consumers what they wanted, they would have said, “A faster horse.” To understand the consumer value equation, you must truly get to know your consumers—to engage with them beyond the quantitative survey, through deeper, more personal forms of research—watching them shop, listening to their stories, visiting them at home to observe how they use and evaluate your products. Only through this
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