Play "Games" With Your Customers For Budget-Friendly Research

It’s paradoxical, but just when your executive team wants a higher level of confidence in your product plans, they tend to cut market research budgets. Do you predict a research budget pinch in 2009? Luckily we have a few cost-effective research tricks that you can keep up your sleeve! Here are three great ways to use your Customer Advisory Board (CAB) as a research powerhouse to answer your tough questions in 2009.

As practicing product managers we always look for ways to get better results with our budgets. We have found that large-scale quantitative studies can cost more than a restricted research budget will allow, and they may not be necessary to answer your most pressing questions.

Focus groups can be scaled down to a tighter budget, but they can yield “fuzzy” results that leave you wondering how to use the input you gathered.

Getting better research results with a limited budget is why Innovation Games™ qualitative research is a regular part of the Pivotal Product Management toolbox. Innovation Games are interactive techniques for getting your customers to help you create products they will buy. Although anything called “games” might not sound like serious research, Innovation Games are powerful tools to help you understand customer needs, learn how customers use your products, or shape your future products. And they are ideally suited for getting the most out of your CAB sessions.

Here are some of the pressing research questions that this fun research method can answer. Read on, then start planning your 2009 customer research!

1. What features or services would make my product a complete offering?
Use the "Spider Web" game to learn how your customer sees the relationships between your product or service and others. In this game you ask your customers to draw the products and services that they think are related to your product, with lines connecting them to your product. You can use this information to capture more revenue by creating innovations around these relationships.

2. What is the most meaningful way to describe my product to customers?
Use the "Product Box" game to have your customers design a package that would make them want to buy your product. Even if your product isn’t sold in a box, customers will come up with the key selling points that will give you the starting point for marketing messages that are meaningful to your customer.

3. What are the most critical problems to fix in my product?
Use the "Speed Boat" game to find fresh new ideas for the changes you can make to address your customers' most important concerns. You draw a picture of a boat with your product’s name, and tell your customers to write what they don’t like on an anchor and estimate how much faster the boat would go without that anchor. Your discussion will help to clarify what’s bugging your customer most, in a way that keeps the conversation focused and productive.

For even more ways to use Innovation Games™ with your CAB, take our 30-second Hot Button survey and you’ll be eligible to receive the complimentary "Ten Tips to Enliven Your Customer Advisory Board Meetings."

As Certified Innovation Games™ facilitators and product management consultants, we bring the power of Innovation Games™ to our clients. Contact us at 866-647-5397 to request more information or a quote on facilitation, consulting and related services to help your 2009 research yield better results!