Do companies always understand what matters to their customers? How can they change the whole industry paradigm, deliver unexpectedly superior customer experience, and benefit from it? A key point is to understand what are the valuable choices and services from the customer perspectives, uncover hidden needs and expectations beyond the common wisdom and the standard offering. Let me give you two examples, from the bicycle and the entertainment industry.
Biking is, finally, getting mainstream in lot of cities, with dedicated lanes, paths and greenways: a by design alternative to fix traffic congestion and an opportunity for healthier lifestyle. What does the market offer to urban bikers? Mostly a bad copy of what professional or amateur road bikers or mountain bikers are going after: highly equipped bicycle with derailleurs, shifters, cables, cable carriers, multiple chain rings, breaks, and shock absorbers. Then people get trapped in a challenging selection, and then the key criteria driving customer choice becomes price, discounts… and finally the least worst choice, between Giant, Decathlon, and the likes.
Do cities need this kind of bicycles? What if you get rid of unnecessary parts, and offer well designed, fully customizable bicycle, with frames, saddle, wheels and handlebar – all in a wide range of colors and models? Fixed-gear, single-speed, no breaks bicycle, is becoming a popular alternative among urban cyclists, offering the advantages of simplicity and personalization, compared with the standard multi-geared bicycle. Then the main criteria for selecting one or the other (among them: Airwalk, a Taiwanese company that is becoming quite popular in China) becomes design and service, and customers are more than happy to pay a premium price (on average, 3 times more).
Second: consider a bar, where you want to enjoy drinks in a nice atmosphere with your partner. In most of the places you go, even the best ones (lately, I have been in some of this fancy location in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sidney…) usually you got overwhelmed by lights, hundreds of bottles, endless menu leading to an exhausting selection that makes you tired even before starting drinking. Then consider Shuto Yanagino, a minimalist bar in Kyoto. The space is based on the concept of a chashitsu (tea ceremony room). The resulting bar is executed to perfection: a 6m long counter formed from a single piece of bubinga timber. Behind the bar stands a solitary vase holding a single flower. There is no drinks menu, as it would be considered clutter. Instead barman Yanagino, after personally understanding your preferences, will propose you a short list of alternatives (amongst his extensive list of wines – more than 200 only from France – and spirits), and will create, with simple but perfectly executed gesture, one of the classic.
Bottom line: Make it personal. Design an experience that is best matching the customer hidden expectations, and de-clutter everything else.
