Customer feedback
- Dotan Frangi
- Feb 19
- 2 min read
It's shocking but while Motorola and Nokia dismissed touch screens based on customer feedback, Apple was secretly working on the iPhone - a touch screen device that would change our lives ☎
In a recent podcast with product guru Marty Cagan (link in the comments), he shared some fascinating insights into the art of customer research and how Apple's approach differed from its competitors 🦕
🔑Sharing my key Takeaways:
1. True customer research goes beyond just "talking to customers" - Product people have a rule of thumb "talk to your customers at least once a day" the thing is we shouldn't talk to them, we should just listen to them. and that's a significant difference..
2. The real meaning of "talk to your customers" is "test your new ideas with your customers", and it has two main questions
(1) Can they do their job with the new product?
(2) Is your solution good enough for them to adopt it over their current solution?
If NOT, we should understand WHY NOT?
Why the MVP doesn't allow them to do their work?
and Why didn't they adopt it?
3. The customers don't know what is the best solution.. It's the Product Team's responsibility to provide a technological solution that genuinely adds value and solves customer problems.
4. Now let’s back to Motorola & Nokia, when Motorola and Nokia presented touch screens in focus groups, customers rejected the idea, favoring physical keyboards, and the companies adopted the customers' solution. At this time, Apple Product Teams realized that when the customers said they didn't want the touch screen, they actually meant "We don't want a low-quality touch screen" The keyboard wasn’t a better solution either.
we can sum it up with hashtag#STEVEJOBS's quote
