Lead User - Inclusion in the earlier innovation phase

In the first phase, the focus and the superordinate subjects of a Lead User project are clearly defined and determined by the management of an enterprise. The first planning task is to define the new product or service areas and the overall objectives, which should be driven by the Lead User project. The following key questions that are to be answered are essential:

• What are the initial interests (project focus and objectives)?
• Which market types and which types of new products or services are of most interest to this project?
• What is the desired degree of innovation? (“Ground-breaking” innovations or the development of existing product or service provisions?)
• Who is the target group of end-users?
• What are the most important enterprise/business objectives and restrictions?

As soon as the focus and objectives are determined, management selects the core team to implement the Lead User study. This should be a multi-functional project team of three to four individuals with different experiences, abilities and perspectives.

Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack (2009, p. 34) recommend the second phase to begin with a four-day team workshop. Within these four days the team should execute a detailed investigation of trends and requirements, and as a result of this they will obtain a deep understanding of the most important trends and their probable effects on the market requirements and general market information.

During the first two days, the team will begin to gain a comprehensive overview of the current and relevant literature (e.g. trade journals, market research studies). Group discussions and informal meetings are held every two to three hours led by interesting ideas and important aspects are summarised. A big challenge for the team stands alone in the assessment of which trends are particularly significant. Questions that should be asked during the trend investigation are:

• What events and conditions does the trend drive?
• Who is affected?
• What is the evidence is there to show that the trend will have a significant influence on future product and service requirements?

In this early phase of information acquisition, the team must also ask the following questions:

• What requirements and problems are there from the view of the user in practice?
• What are the views of experts on new customer requirements in the target markets?

After this, on the third and fourth days, there is an identification of experts, who deal with the so-called mega-trends or even technical trends (forecasts). Scanning literature aids in the creation of a first list of potential professionals (e.g. The authors of or named experts in articles, editors of trade journals).

If the team is confident that all the required trend and market information has been collected and the questioning has been successful, the so-called “framing” of requirements in which the customer requirements are formulated and this forms the conclusion of the second phase. It essentially contains the identification and selection of areas of needs, other data and information collection, as well as the subsequent search and definition of specific customer requirements that take centre-stage in the concept generation for a new product or service and not potential solutions for these requirements. Where possible, framing should be executed promptly after the interviews on two half-days. Provide details on the framing-process (see Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack 2009, p. 86 et seqq.)

The result should provide a clearly formulated description on the following areas, which provide a good starting point for the identification of a suitable Lead User in the next phase.

• Customer target groups: Define the primary groups of people who will benefit from the new product to be developed or the new service, and who will be served by it.
• Basic need: Include the essential aspects of needs.
• Key attributes of the identified requirement: Naming specific features, which will optimally address the new product (or new service) on the basis of the data collected to date.

As soon as the team has a clear statement for the customer requirements, the further data collection can be performed in a far more targeted and systematic manner (Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack, 2009, p. 85).

In this third phase the core task lies in the team attaining a more detailed understanding of the functions, features and benefits that a new product or service should provide. Solution ideas, as well as other required information, are gathered for this using the interviews with the Lead Users and experts.

The search for Lead Users normally begin with the identification of individual products users or application companies, who form

• the majority of the market in relation to your new product or service requirements, and
• are able to gain a significant advantage from the search for solutions for your requirements.

Conventional media, above all forums, blogs and diverse social media channels, as well as idea competitions can identify possible Lead Users. Through their practice experiences, they have an insight into the product or service with which most others within the target markets are not confronted.

Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack (2009, p. 9) highlight that there are three different categories of Lead Users, who should contact the team members time and time again to obtain the best-possible information for your project. The three types of Lead Users are:

• Lead users in the target application and target market;
• Lead users of similar applications in advanced, “analogous” markets, and
• Lead users who are confronted with problems due to their practical experiences and requirements.

During this phase, provisional, alternative concepts are also developed to fulfil the customer requirements formulated in the second phase. The following questions support this:

1. Which specific product/service features would a new product or service ideally provide?
2. What benefits and value should this product or service provide the target customer?
3. What are our expectations for the shapes that this product or service could take (e.g. important design features)?

The main activity of this fourth phase is the execution of the Lead User workshop in which the preliminary concepts are further developed, improved or new concepts are even developed. The aim is to completely exploit as many customer-oriented solution options as possible. The Lead User workshop is a two-to-three day event at which a group of Lead Users (max. 15-18 people) and experts intensely work with the project team and other company employees on the design.

Lead Users and experts normally identify good workshop candidates from the interviews of the second and third phases. If this is not the case, then the project team must renew their search for individuals who have the corresponding expertise. More details on the procedure of a Lead User workshop are provided by Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack (2009, p. 133 et seqq.).