Customer Collaboration

Customer Collaboration An ongoing dialogue with the people that will help you shape the future of your company. Opportunity for some. Survival for others. Your competition is fast. Your customers are faster. Adapt your organization to cope with rapid change and embrace it as a competitive advantage. Realignment that focuses on co-innovating brand experiences that will empower customers and employees. 3 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

“We want to harness insights and customer dreams into things we can use concretely with our different groups, such as engineering, design and marketing.” Deborah Wahl Meyer, Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Chrysler 4 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the ﬁle again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Operating in a silo without customer input can lead to problems “We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising….We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you.” “We agree this creative is totally inappropriate; we apologize and please know it won’t run again.” -  Kathy Widmer, VP of marketing, McNeil Consumer Healthcare -  B. Bonin Bough, Director, Social and Emerging Media, PepsiCo 7 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Marketers today still do not collaborate enough with consumers throughout innovation processes “In what stages of a new product development process do you involve consumers?” (multiple responses accepted) Once there is an idea Once there is a beta product Once concepts are fully developed (multiple choices to be made) Once the product is on the market Once the product has been produced Before there is an idea We don’t involve consumers at any stage of product development Other Don’t know Base: 105 marketing leaders Source: August 27, 2008, “CDI: Defined But Not Adopted” Forrester report 8 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

But wait! Consumers don’t know what they want! “Had I asked end customers, all they would have said is that they need a faster horse.” -Henry Ford 9 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Marketers have a variety of tools and techniques beyond simply asking a question Lead user Ethnography Goal: develop analysis solutions Consumer- Storytelling Do-it-yourself design generated customization media Adaptive conjoint Customer Co-design teams analysis Communities Innovation Virtual testing Goal: understand competitions customer needs Innovation Networks Customer brainstorming Goal: generate sessions ideas 10 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Consumers are willing to participate in online communities and forums “How willing would you be to participate in an online community organized by a company where you can contribute your opinions and insight to develop better products and services?” 51% of US online adults show willingness to participate in company online communities to develop better products and services Base: US online adults Source: North American Technographics® Media And Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008 11 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Across all generations “How willing would you be to participate in an online community organized by a company where you can contribute your opinions and insight to develop better products and services?” (percentage of those who responded extremely or somewhat willing) Base: US online adults Source: North American Technographics® Media And Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008 12 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Consumer willingness spans a variety of business areas Base: US online adults who said they were somewhat or extremely interested in contributing to an online company forum Source: North American Technographics® Media and Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008 * Interest is defined as a 4 or 5 [extremely interested] on a scale from 1 [extremely disinterested] to 5 [extremely interested] 13 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Consumer collaboration pays off • Learning why non-customers aren’t buying from you Customer • Engaging new target segments early to transition them to acquisition future buyers Customer • Showing loyal customers that their opinions matter engagement, • Empower people through the ability to impact decisions advocacy & through ownership in the process loyalty • Understanding customer challenges, needs, and ideas Better products & services • Gaining new perspectives on the overall experience More efficient • Testing ideas earlier in the development process to get innovation & cheaper and more real-time feedback new product • Understanding interest levels to prioritize new innovation development initiatives 14 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

And marketers are starting to emphasize talent with skills in listening and community management “What skills and capabilities do you think will be most important in the future?” (select up to five) Base: 100 chief and senior marketers Source: September 2008 Global Marketing Organization Benchmark Online Survey. 15 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Getting customers more involved: key practices • Focus on company culture and the internal team • Get consumers involved early – not at the end of the process • Show the value and results of consumer participation • Use a variety of tools and mechanisms for consumer participation • Show active participation at the executive level of the organization • Extend the focus beyond just the product itself – and look at the entire experience 16 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Key actions for collaboration in co-creation Customers, experts, or non-customers? Loyal or fickle Executive championing Scoping your customers? and buy-in? external participants Funding? Setting a Putting governance together your model team Leading with innovation Making an or marketing? action plan Company-wide team? How to best launch? Dedicated employees How to mature and or grassroots effort? evolve the program? 18 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Assembling the team • Define clear roles and responsibilities • Don’t involve people/teams if they aren’t motivated • Evangelize customer collaboration across the organization 20 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Making an action plan • Do we lead with innovation or marketing? • Marketing’s core about engagement and branding • Innovation’s core is new ideas for products and markets • Scoping the launch • Start small – a core dedicated team with clear opportunities, and a clear target group of customers • Go big – strong company-wide support for customer engagement, including *material* exec support • Managing the program • The launch is the beginning of planning, not the end • Think about maturity models: how to build from the grassroots, or create depth when you start with breadth 21 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Remember…innovation doesn’t just happen Successful innovation requires passion, excitement, and a strong basis in customer needs. 23 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Cartoon source: http://jangandabla.com/blog

Thank you Cindy Commander, Analyst Forrester Research ccommander@forrester.com Chris Townsend, Researcher Forrester Research ctownsend@forrester.com Justin Cooper, Chief Innovation + Marketing Passenger jcooper@thinkpassenger.com 25 Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Collaboration

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