Since you have been following my previous posts, I bet you are eager to know the role of customers in product development, as I am to share with you.
So, let’s get started!
Most companies, including start-ups, and SMEs, are quick at promoting a customer-oriented product or service, making Customers feel that they have them in mind. But in reality, how many companies investigate extensively to find out the needs of their customers or potential customers? The margin can sometimes be very minimal, that is because some companies have unconsciously cultivated the culture of speaking instead of listening to their clients.
It’s the same thing in the product development process of medical devices, and it sometimes seems as though Customers are not properly-consulted during this process, and they are left to cope with a product that is sometimes not ideal when acquired.
However, it doesn’t have to continue that way because companies that will stand the test of time and thrive, ought to; prioritize the feedback of the customer in their product development process.
That said, here is what you can do differently:
Medtech Industry: Benefits Of Listening To Your Customers
If you’re in doubt as to what key areas to pay close attention to when listening to your customers, here is a simple guide that would help you get it right:
Listen To Find Out The Need(s) And Problem(s) Of Your Customers’
To get through this successfully, you may need to ask questions like: Tell me about the last time you performed this type of surgery… Similarly, you can ask questions like “what do you struggle with the most or what gives you the most concern and … Avoid questions regarding “how” as they are not effective at this point.
This will make Customers open up to you, and that way, you’ll have answers to what and why, as regards the surgery, its outcome, stages of care, and challenges encountered.
Listen By Observing Your Customers Very Closely
Here is another way to collect useful inputs from the customer, and through this means of observation, you could find opportunities for ideas on areas to improve on. For instance, decide that you’ll observe the full recovery cycle of the patient, starting from before/during and after the treatment; while at it, you will discover ways for improvement and innovative methods of creating value for all the involved stakeholders.
That said; because Customers observation is closely related to the ethnographic research principles, here are some suggestions that would further help:
- Be a curious, attentive, and active listener
- Consider your bias, use fresh eyes, as it will help you see things from a newer perspective.
- Connect with your customer, and you will get to know their emotions and attitudes.
- Consider subjects that represent your target populace not only KOL.
- Select subjects that are honest and open.
- Be conscious of the Observer effect- (which is how the act of observing affects the phenomenon under observation) collect all the details.
Listen To Differentiate Between Outcome And Output
Ideally, outcome is what your customer wants; typically, it is a solution to a problem or a need. While an output is a feature, a functionality, a specification, etc…. And it is normally solution-related.
For example, flexible endoscopes need reprocessing after every use; this process requires time, leads to costs related to damage and repair, and a shorter lifetime.
If you only focus on output, you will develop a flexible endoscope that is easy to be reprocessed and more durable. However, if you focus on the outcome, which is to avoid cross-contamination, you can think about other technologies as a barrier-device that avoid patient contact with the endoscope or as a single-use endoscope, completely bypassing the reprocessing.
Another benefit of listening to the customer is to find out how they measure the success of their treatment because in some occasions, what is perceived as success by a design engineer is not seen in the same way by the customer.
Conclusion
Genuinely listening to the customer during the iterations is extremely valuable and can be of great help to product development processes in Medtech. It can also bridge the gap and serve as evidence; in a situation where the executives in the company are unable to agree with the product development team.
Likewise, the interaction with the customer in the “discovery” is crucial, to understand if you should build the product or not, even before evaluating if you can build it.
That is because the time and resources invested to make the right product are as important as the one invested to make the product right.