What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services by Anthony W. Ulwick

In “What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services” by Anthony W. Ulwick, readers will learn how to apply Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) to create products and services that truly meet customer’s needs. ODI shifts away from relying on market research data or competitive advantage and instead focuses on customers and their experiences. By understanding customer’s goals, pains, and desired outcomes, products and services can be developed with those specific needs in mind. This can help to not only increase customer satisfaction but also save time and money on the development process.

The book begins with a discussion of the traditional approach to product and service development, which involves assessing customer needs and wants through questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, and surveys. While these techniques can help to identify what customers think they want, they often don’t provide insight into the actual realized needs of the customer. Ulwick explains that customers, especially in today’s highly competitive market, look not just at what a product or service does but rather how it can help them to meet their goals.

Ulwick then introduces ODI, which is a systematic process that captures customer needs, captured in the form of outcomes, and applies them to the development of innovative ideas. This process begins with research on outcomes, which involves gathering data from customers on desired reflections, expectations, preferences, anxieties, and pains. These data are then transformed into customer outcomes by looking for patterns that represent customer objectives. Customers outcomes are able to capture the needs of customers more accurately than traditional market research approaches.

The book then goes on to discuss how to apply ODI in the design process. By creating outcomes-based personas and customer journey maps, teams are able to generate more relevant and customer-oriented solutions. In particular, customer journey maps, which visualize customer’s interactions with products and services, can be used to identify gaps in the customer experience and help to inform product design.

The book concludes with a discussion of how to manage the ODI process and how to measure the impact of customer-driven solutions. It is important to remember that the success of ODI hinges on customer feedback, thus customer feedback should always be incorporated through the entire process. By using ODI, teams can create breakthrough products and services that truly meet customer needs and drive customer satisfaction.

Overall, “What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services” provides an insightful look at how to move away from traditional market research methods to create customer-centric products and services. By applying the principles of ODI, teams can develop customer solutions that truly meet customer needs and drive customer success. If you are looking to build innovative solutions that are tailored to customer needs, this book is a great resource.