Are some customers better than others at developing new concepts? Professor Donna L. Hoffman at the University of California Riverside thinks so. Emergent customers have a unique ability to “wrap their head” around a new concept and improve it. She created a scale to identify them so companies hear the voice of the “right” customer during new product development.
Emergent customers are better at imagining how concepts address latent unmet needs. Dr. Hoffman describes it as a “unique constellation of personality traits and processing abilities that enables such consumers to engage in a synergistic process of visualization and rationalization to improve product concepts.” Those characteristics are:
How would you put this to use?
How would emergent customers perform using a structured innovation method? It is tempting to assume they would do better using methods like S.I.T.. These people are more motivated and optimistic. They are more hopeful about the output of innovation workshops and are likely to push harder. Star performers “Google” their mind to make innovative connections and associations in rapid fire fashion. This relates to Dr. Hoffman’s factor of “experiential and rational processing style.”
For innovation workshops, my “dream team” would include a mix of emergent and non-emergent participants. Perhaps the ideal scenario is pairing them together. As the emergent thinker pushes ideas into new territory, the non-emergent thinker can offer quick feedback. Innovation is a team sport after all.
Innovation is a skill, not a gift. Top organizations drive growth by nurturing and investing…
Are you in the world of problem solving? Is problem solving a skillset you have…
5 Data-Driven, Customer-Centric trends we’ve identified This is not just another conventional forecast. Over nearly…
Imagine a chef, who only uses a spoon. Imagine a dentist, who only uses a…
In investing and business strategy, we often speak in terms of moats. Warren Edward Buffett…
This year, P&G’s Febreze celebrates its silver anniversary as a brand. But not all 25…
View Comments
This is very interesting. In addition to innovation workshops including both Emergent and non-Emergent customers, Emergent customers would definitely be useful in certain focus groups where the goal is to exchange new ideas and decide what is missing in a given concept, rather than simply commenting on their liklihood of purchasing it.
These conversations could offer valuable insights for use in future quantitative research with the more general population of customers who evaluate concepts in the more traditional sense.
For bigger companies such as P&G, it may be wise to segment employees this way as well, and then hold the innovation workshops you spoke of to get the most out of the workforce.