Capturing the Experience and Insights of Extreme Product Consumers by Marketers (Term Paper Sample)

CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE AND INSIGHTS OF EXTREME PRODUCT CONSUMERS BY MARKETERSIntroduction
Both product and service industries aims to satisfy preferences of their existing and prospective clients. In this way, manufacturers and service providers needs to understand the needs of the clients so they production can be tailored to the specific needs. Traditionally, products and service providers engaged in market researches in which views of the consumers are collected through interviews, questionnaires, and feedbacks. Even with this strategic model, adequate satisfaction has not been guaranteed to consumers given their heterogeneous needs. As such, manufacturers have been using the ‘line of best fit’ to arrive into brands that are crosscutting and have the potential of including references of the majority.
Today, the conventional approach of market research has been overshadowed by use of ‘extreme consumers’ in the development of services and products. Extreme consumers are those who either use the product/ service too often or so rarely. Their critique or applause is critical in service or product development as their obsession is seen by marketers to provide a holistic need as opposed to average users. Engaging consumers in product development has led to user-led innovation that serves to be conveniently effective in meeting the diverse preferences as portrayed by consumers. Notwithstanding, there are also experts critics that the use of extreme consumers is overly biased in striking a balance of preference in most consumers and that it should be avoided. As such, this paper gives an empirical analysis on how best marketers can tap the insights and the experiences of ‘extreme users’ in a bid to improve on the development of their products and services.
Literature Review
Business involves competition and one way of heightening this competition is by satisfying needs of the consumers. Throughout the manufacturing process, there is consistent efforts to resonate with the demands of the consumers through research and design division of every company. As Stefan Thomke and Eric Hippel reports in their article ‘customers as innovators: A new way to create value’ the process of satisfying needs of the consumers is costly and inexact because of lack of a better conduit through which needs of the consumers can be translated (2002, p. 4). Given the ensuing gap, a new system of developing custom products has brought a paradigm shift in the whole process. The contemporary system in which customers dominates the process of design process replaces the traditional system in which the supplier translated the needs of the consumers. Through a friendly-user interface, consumers are able to design products of their choice to avoid the endless iterations characterized by the traditional channel. Thomke and Hippel asserts that it is possible to turn customers into innovators by satisfying some conditions; developing a user-friendly kit that allows customers to easily navigate and make manipulation that suits their needs (Thomke & Hippel, 2002, p. 4). Business practices should be adaptable coupled with the flexibility of the production process and careful selection of customers that should be first used in kit testing.
The impact of customers (extreme uses) in product development is confirmed by a publication in the Financial Times by Alicia Clegg in January 2014. In her publication harnessing the power of extreme consumers, Alicia reports about Micah Melton who has shown obsession with ice (Clegg, 2014, p. 1). His frequent use of ice made him think of a better way through which he can make the kind of a design he wanted. In this relation, he made a domestic appliance maker that he uses to make ice. The chef de cuisine at a Chicago cocktail bar, The Aviary invited a team of consultants to witness the amazing innovation brought to limelight by an extreme user. Alicia reports that as opposed to the conventional suggestion that ordinary product users should be involved in its development, users whose expectations goes beyond the average users holds much useful insights because to them, performance matters the most (Clegg, 2014, p. 2). The director at sense Worldwide, Brian Miller also confirms this by stating that most people are instinctively conservative and blank about improvements in products and that frequent users comes in handy.
In a separate contribution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Eric Hippel posits that the development of a product is at its peak when opinions of those who are enthusiastic or frustrated about a product are sought (Franke, Keinz, & Steger, 2009, p. 11). He adds that not only do such people hold better articulation about improvement of a product; they might also contribute through improvising. Empirical example to this effect is noted when sense Worldwide started an initiative to help people in developing a toilet brush. They came across consumers who had compulsive compulsion in cleaning lavatories in the most hygiene way. To minimize possible contamination, these consumers wrapped toilet papers in the bristle and this gave sense Worldwide to adopt the idea of brush-heads having biodegradable covers that are flushable. In this case, extreme users went into details of improvising, an insight that is later used in the development of brush-heads.
Other ways of using extreme users of products and services for development according to the Financial Times includes using those who have no idea about something. A classical example in this case involves the use of ex-convicts for the usability of information technology. In making insightful development for smart phones, the ex-convicts who missed the opportunity to interact with the phones upon their release are believed to have objective and fresh views about them (Franke, Keinz, & Steger, 2009, p. 15). In the same breadth, it explains why dominatrices needed those who wore uncomfortable shoes to help them avoid blisters. Extremer users in this way have made immense contribution in the development of products and services (Muniz & Jensen, 2014, p. 7). From the instances cited in this section, it is apparent that extreme users hold critical opinions or action that if adopted or modified, can be used to overcome a traditional challenge that has dominated the product or service for the better.
Description of a Case Choice
Understand the contribution of extreme consumers in product and service development can be best understood by analyzing the evolution of a vacuum cleaner. Before the invention of a vacuum cleaner, carpets and other household materials that gather dust were manually cleaned and this exposed cleaners to a number of risks including allergy and asthma (Gantz, 2012, p. 27). Because of the tribulations, the cleaners were compelled by the situation to devise improvements that could solve their problems. One would then be excused to say that were it not of the routine cleaning exercise by the carpet cleaners, vacuum cleaners would be mirage today. It takes one to be an extreme user of a product or a service to hypothesize on possible improvement that can make a situation better.
Having been a frequent cleaner of carpet, Melville Bissell had to ponder over possible solution that would keep him at a bay from asthma and allergy attacks. The only way of cleaning a carpet them (beating the dirt out of carpets) brought many health problems that Meliville could not cope up with, he thus invented the first mechanical vacuum cleaner that was later improved by other people. It is in order to discuss allergy as ‘the mother of invention’ in vacuum cleaner development. Another extreme user, James Murray was motivated by allergy to develop an electric cleaner that used electric fan motor, a pillowcase, a broom handle, and a soapbox (Gantz, 2012, p. 46). He made further improvement in his improvised vacuum cleaner by adding a rotating-brush that was used to loosen dirt and debris in the carpet. He sold his idea to W. H. Hoover of the today much renowned Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory and it remains the leading manufacturer of vacuum cleaner Great Britain up to today (Dick, 2013, p. 72).
Extreme users are therefore important in the development of products and services because they face challenges more often than other users who are not frequent users. In this way, they are able to detect and bring forth improvements that are time, energy, or resources saving. Considering the case of vacuum cleaner, the invention made carpet cleaning to be easier and cleaning could be done effectively more times than it used to be before the invention. There was also eradication of asthma and allergy amongst the users. Extreme users of products and services do gain some experiences while using the products or services to an extent that they start meditating on possible condition that might make them effective for use (Cagan & Vogel, 2002, p. 65). When these extreme users’ views are collected and implemented, amazing development can be realized as illustrated in the chronology of vacuum cleaners invention above.
Extreme consumers also serve to promote products in blogs and in youtube.com where they meet other extreme users to ignite an interactive discussion about a product. In this way, a collective sample of different views is considered and this may result into an integration of ideas from various users to develop a product with a wide spectrum appeal that serves the diverse need of clients across board. Vacuum cleaner invention is a vivid demonstration on how extreme consumption of a product or a service can make a big breakthrough innovation that results into a commercial game changer (Mital, 2008, p. 49).
Case Analysis
From the literate review above, some of the palpable conclusions drawn include contributions of extreme...