This document discusses the importance of validating new product concepts and ideas through virtual means before full development. It outlines how virtual validation can be done earlier in the product development process to fail fast and focus efforts on the most promising opportunities. A variety of virtual validation techniques are presented, including conjoint analysis, concept testing, prototyping, and remote monitoring of products in use, all with the goal of gathering customer feedback to improve products and reduce development costs and risks.

1. Better products through virtual product validation
Template Innovation Day presentationCONFIDENTIAL
BETTER PRODUCTS THROUGH
VIRTUAL PRODUCT VALIDATION
Michiel Cambron
Innovation & Design Consultant
Michiel.Cambron@verhaert.com
METHODOLOGIES & TOOLS

2. Better products through virtual product validation
CONFIDENTIAL
2
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
Who systematically validates concepts/ideas ?

3. Better products through virtual product validation
3
CONFIDENTIAL
THE CORPORATE BEAST
It’s all about
Product Push – We
make the customer
love it.
We know what our
customer wants and will
pay for.
The Proud Businessman
Our product is superior than our
competition, we are leading.
Ensuring future we
just need to
innovate to cut our
costs.

4. Better products through virtual product validation
4
CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FLOW
• Yes, We know how to
validate.
• Yes, we focus on
validating once we have
our first product in the
market.
• Yes, The risk of failure is
the highest in the early
stage.
• Yes, The cost of failure is
the highest at the end of
the process.
• Yes, We should focus on
failing fast early on.
Effort Validation
€€€€
OPPORTUNITY INNOVATION
Risk of failure

5. Better products through virtual product validation
5
CONFIDENTIAL
HYPERLOCAL CROWBAR
• Act Global – Think Local
• Different customer segments
allocated in different areas
with each of them their own
preferences and
characteristics.
• Make validation happen in
a cost-effective way.
• Understand the difference:
Marketing is all about
Demographics & Geographics
• Honestly can you define a new
product out of this information: “
He is a man, single, has two kids
and works as a farmer”

6. Better products through virtual product validation
6
CONFIDENTIAL
NEED FOR R&D DATA METABOLISM
• Higher Data Metabolism
• We used to talk now we generate
a massive amount of data.
• Tap into the dimensions of web and
mobile technologies.
• Communication: Get connected worldwide,
follow interaction real time.
• Conceptualization: Share your vision on
products in an easy way and attractable way
through 2D and 3D visualizations.
• Computation: Iterate while you are gathering
information & generate accurate data points
which gives useful knowledge.
• Big Data & R&D Management go hand
in hand!

7. Better products through virtual product validation
7
CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FLOW – A CONTINIOUS PROCESS
OPPORTUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCT CONCEPT PRODUCT DEFINITION PROTOTYPING
TECHNICAL
MODELS
GOALSTRATEGIC
FOCUS
TOOLS&
METHODS
IDEA GENERATION
LAUNCH
What do
we learn?
CREDIBILITY
Market
analytics
Conjoint
analysis
Conjoint
analysis
Conjoint
analysis
Conjoint
analysis
Sentiment
analysis
Usability
Product
value
perception
Concept
preference
JTB
What will
thrive 2020?
VALUENEEDS

8. Better products through virtual product validation
CONFIDENTIAL
8
Needs
Value
Credibility
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
Needs and values

9. Better products through virtual product validation
9
CONFIDENTIAL
WHEN DOES VALIDATION TAKE PLACE IN THE PROCESS ?
DESIGN INPUT
DESIGN RESEARCH
DESIGN WORK
DESIGN VALIDATION
DESIGN OUTPUT
THE
SWEET
SPOT
DESIGN INPUT
DESIGN RESEARCH
DESIGN WORK
DESIGN VALIDATION
DESIGN OUTPUT

10. Better products through virtual product validation
10
CONFIDENTIAL
OPPORTUNITY: FUZZY FRONT END
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY
What are different jobs to be done?
What motivates the user and purchase?
What are unmet needs?
What are the biggest pains, concerns?
How success is measured ?
(Satisfaction * Importance)
Belief
F(Needs) =
Global CMO Study – IBM
82% of CMOs plan to increase social media use during the next three to five years, only 26% are
currently tracking blogs, 42% are tracking third-party reviews, and 48% are tracking consumer
reviews to help shape their marketing strategies.
56% of CMOs view social media as a key engagement channel, but they still struggle with
capturing valuable customer insight from the unstructured data that customers and potential
customers produce.
Sentiment Analyze

11. Better products through virtual product validation
11
CONFIDENTIAL
OPPORTUNITY: FUZZY FRONT END
𝑶 ≔ ƒ(𝑺, 𝑰) : OPPORTUNITY is a function of SATISFACTION and IMPORTANCE
Opportunities for innovation exist when a need is important and not well satisfied. The
more important a need is, and the less satisfied customers are, the greater the opportunity
for value creation. The opportunity algorithm makes it possible to rank different needs.
The opportunity landscape model gives an
overview of which jobs are over - or under -
served.
Overserved jobs have high satisfaction and low
importance. There is potential for disruption, to
reduce or eliminate certain features that
address these needs in existing products.
Underserved jobs have low satisfaction and
high importance. These unmet needs represent
opportunities. Increasing or creating features
that address these needs can attract new users
to a product.
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY

12. Better products through virtual product validation
12
CONFIDENTIAL
OPPORTUNITY & IDEA GENERATION: FUZZY FRONT END
• Analyze the unstructured customer feedback through any communication channel
(email, call center, surveys, social media) and manage their experience in all their
contact points with the company.
• Example Dell Client Command Suite
Each client request is mapped and reviewed for possible insights.
• Example Stihl Chainsaw
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY

13. Better products through virtual product validation
13
CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT VALIDATION STUDIES
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY
To determine importance of different features.
To understand a preferred option for each feature.
Calculate utility values for each feature.
What combination of features would be preferred.
F (Importance of
feature * desirability
of specific feature)
Utility Value =

14. Better products through virtual product validation
14
CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT VALIDATION STUDIES
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY
F (Importance of
feature * desirability
of specific feature)
Utility Value =To understand perception of different product concepts in
relation to the key product promises. What product has the
highest market acceptance potential? What are positive and
negative perception factors? What is the logics of decision
making? To understand trade offs driven by specific features.
1. For each set of stimuli, respondents click on those cards,
in no particular order, that they would be “likely to buy.”
2. Respondents then click on cards that they would be
“unlikely to buy.” Others are added to the “not sure” group.
3. Respondents rank order stimuli within each of the “likely,”
“not sure,” or “unlikely” groups by clicking on profiles in
order of preference.
4. Finally, the “likely,” “not sure,” and “unlikely” groups are
“stitched” together to create the rank order of all stimuli
for analysis.

15. Better products through virtual product validation
15
CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT VALIDATION STUDIES
VS
Prototyping
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY
To understand perception of different product concepts
based on the look & feel experience. To learn about criticalities
in decision making. What product version would/have
the highest market acceptance.
F (Importance of
feature * desirability
of specific feature)
Utility Value =
Live Prototyping

16. Better products through virtual product validation
16
CONFIDENTIAL
PROTOTYPING
Source: David Aycan and Paolo Lorenzoni (HBR)
RAPID
PROTOTYPING
PILOTTECHNICAL
PROTOTYPING
LIVE
PROTOTYPING
Question
answered
What are the different
ways we could solve
this problem?
Does our message and
solution resonate in the
market?
Can the problem be
solved in this specific
way?
Are the economics
attractive enough
to justify scaling?
When to employ
it in the product
development
process
Early, to explore many
ways to achieve a goal
and periodically during
the mid-phase to
explore ways to deliver
a specific feature or
value driver.
Midway, to rigorously
explore market appeal
once a specific
opportunity area has
been identified.
When technical
feasibility is in question
or when the function
has been identified but
the specific means is
yet to be determined.
Late, as a final check
to tweak details before
launching at scale.
Fidelity Low. Just enough for the
product to appear real
in the marketplace.
High enough to prove
feasibility.
Very High. Pilots require
a working solution and
are often more polished
than the scalable
versions to overcome
initial market
awareness challenges.

17. Better products through virtual product validation
17
CONFIDENTIAL
Product Development Validation Studies
Technology Push
Change Pull
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY
Collect insights on the usability & key values. Collect insights
on preferred options & appreciation of different features potential
trade offs. Collect insights on overall use experience.
Acceptance =

18. Better products through virtual product validation
18
CONFIDENTIAL
ENHANCING CLASSIC DESIGN VALIDATION
WITH VIRTUAL TECHNIQUES
CLASSIC DESIGN VALIDATIONS
VIRTUAL DESIGN VALIDATIONS
Observations are used to observe what a
person does and what their preferences are.
F.E. Heat Mapping Techniques can be used to see
how people interact with a 2D or 3D model of a
concept.
Considerations
Virtual Techniques are in certain instances a complimentary technique which can enable
cost effective first validations but need to added with classic design validations.
NEEDS &
MOTIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ATTRIBUTES
FEATURE
PREFERENCES
CONCEPT
PREFERENCES
PRODUCT VALUE
PERCEPTION
USABILITY

19. Better products through virtual product validation
CONFIDENTIAL
19
Needs
Value
Credibility
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
Credibility

20. Better products through virtual product validation
20
CONFIDENTIAL
Does it work as we want to?
What doesn’t and why?
Do people use it?
Do they like it?
What have we learned?
What do we need to improve?
Does it create the value
we thought it would?
Do all business areas
are in line?
MINIMUM VIABLE (PRE)PRODUCT LAUNCH
TECHNOLOGY
FEASIBLE
PEOPLE
DESIRABLE
BUSINESS
VIABLE
THE
SWEET
SPOT

21. Better products through virtual product validation
21
CONFIDENTIAL
• Equip your 1st gen with a gateway
• Define what you want to monitor (and why)
• Attach sensors & touchpoints to your product
• Define an interface & monitor the activity
• Define a system to draw conclusions/learn
(e.g. algorithms)
• Connect to your system, users, stakeholders
An additional approach to obtain feedback
REMOTE MONITORING

22. Better products through virtual product validation
22
CONFIDENTIAL
Google maps: appliance locations
• Monitoring: bottle volume, consumption,
temperature, …
INTERFACE EXAMPLE (HARD FEEDBACK)

23. Better products through virtual product validation
CONFIDENTIAL
23
Needs
Value
Credibility
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT

24. Better products through virtual product validation
24
CONFIDENTIAL
SETTING UP A SYSTEM
Front-end system
Web and mobile conceptualization
Back-end system
Computing
User base Learning core
Project
management
capabilities
IoT
Reporting
INPUT
INPUT
MANAGEMENT
OUTPUT

25. Better products through virtual product validation
25
CONFIDENTIAL
THE JIGSAW PUZZLE OF AN ONLINE VALIDATION ECOSYSTEM
Which kind of frameworks do we use
to get out of that data real useful
information and knowledge ?
Which model suit for which situation ?
Getting into Analytics … Much more than just Programming code.
Back-End Organization & Computation
Front-End Visualization
What kind of questions do we need
to ask? How do we ask them?
Which phase are we in and what do
we want to know and how is this
best used in app format?
Respondent Incentive & Interaction
How to ensure that people are
activated to participate?
Making sure that they behave in a way
like they would do in a non virtual
environment?
Customer Population
It’s all about finding the right profiles and getting
them on the web.
B2C Profiles piece of cake, B2B is for real chefs?
Specialized Agency (Fieldwork,
SchlesingerAssociates) or building your
own community ( VPS Community)

26. Better products through virtual product validation
CONFIDENTIAL
26
CONCLUSION
Are we ready to all become Product Developers ?

27. Better products through virtual product validation
Kruibeke
Belgium
Verhaert New Products & Services
Hogenakkerhoekstraat 21
B-9150 Kruibeke
T +32 3 250 19 00
E info@verhaert.com
www.verhaert.com
Nivelles
Belgium
Noordwijk
Netherlands
Lambda-X
Avenue Robert Schuman 102
B-1400 Nivelles
T +32 67 47 57 10
E info@lambda-x.com
www.lambda-x.com
Verhaert Netherlands
Kapteynstraat 1
2201 BB Noordwijk
T +31 71 760 05 50
E info@verhaert.com
connect.verhaert.com
INDUSTRYFMCGCONNECT
MEDICAL TECHXFER
MEDICALAEROSPACE
TECHXFER
FMCGCONNECT
TECHXFER
Aveiro
Portugal
Load Interactive
Av. Dr. Lourenço Peixinho 15
3800-159 Aveiro
T +351 234 604 088
E info@load-interactive.com
www.load-interactive.com
CONNECT
Masters in Innovation is the innovation platform of Verhaert
to inspire and coach professionals on product and business
development and management.
Innovation Day is an initiative of Verhaert Masters in Innovation.