The Repertory Grid Technique as a Customer Insight Method

摘要

The success of new products and services relies on meeting customer needs, but it is very difficult to identify hidden needs since customers have difficulty articulating them or do not recognize them at all. A number of methods have been applied to help identify hidden needs, including ethnography, empathic design, and lead-user innovation. In this paper, we discuss the use of the repertory grid technique (RGT), a method adopted from psychology that has been used in new product development to help uncover customers' hidden needs. Three case studies from our own work show that it can be applied effectively at different stages of the product development process, resulting in entirely new products, product improvements, and new approaches to marketing.