Deep user needs

A validated approach in which we uncover people’s unconscious needs about a product or context. The end result? An opportunity roadmap for innovation.

Needs

Products, services, buildings, systems, and other human-made entities are essentially instruments for need satisfaction. So if you want to create meaningful solutions for these things, you have to understand people’s deep needs.

What do people really want?

Every year, companies spend considerable time and money trying to answer the question: What do people really want? They conduct surveys, focus groups, and testing sessions to understand how their products and services could fulfill the needs of consumers. These methods produce a lot of data, but mostly fail to obtain answers that are genuine and meaningful. People find it notoriously difficult to recognize what they really need unless it is currently important, or to say what they want a new product to be until it is shown to them.

People find it notoriously difficult to recognize what they really need unless it is currently important, or to say what they want a new product to be until it is shown to them.

Emotions are key to uncovering needs

So how do we get to understand what people really want, value, and experience? Emotions are the key to uncover people’s deep needs. By empathically capturing what frightens, fascinates, and delights people, we derive what they desire and value in life.

Based on our own scientific research we have developed tools to uncover those emotions, needs, and experiences:

  • Premo: a validated tool for measuring emotions
  • Fundamental Needs: an overview of the basic requirements for people to function which give us all a sense of meaning and happiness

These tools can be implemented in several types of qualitative research, such as interviewing, shadowing, and generative sessions.

Understanding dilemmas is one of the best starting points for meaningful innovation.

Dilemmas: the structure of people’s needs

People’s needs do not exist in isolation, they are constantly weighed against each other:  Should I finish my work tonight or spend time with my family? Do I buy a small car that’s easy to park, or a large one in which I feel safer? Do I choose a job that gives me financial stability or one that is more fulfilling? All the problems people face in life eventually boil down to such choices and compromises.

Understanding dilemmas is one of the best starting points for meaningful innovation. We have developed a procedure that extracts dilemmas from consumer data, carefully analyzes each side of it, and creates new space for innovation in which all needs are satisfied.

Our clients love dilemmas because they are relatable and bring order to the chaotic web of consumer needs. And dilemmas provide great inspiration for creative and meaningful solutions. They have also proven to be one of the most powerful ways to add genuine value to people’s lives.

Uncovering user needs for all sectors

Because the principles behind people’s needs are universal, they can be applied to every type of business. We have created propositions in domains such as food, healthcare, home care, finance, mobility, media, and smart electronics.

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