Leisure

Bar

Store

Swimmingpool

Gallery

Alcoho

lClub

Women

Men

Supermark

et

Food

Bakery

Baker Cus

tomer

Assis

tant

Bar Fastf

ood

Kitc

hen

Kitc

hen

Mea

t cut

ter

Butc

her

Wait

er

Was

her

Hea

lthca

re se

ctor

Stor

age

room

Kitc

hen

Lava

tory

War

dAu

tops

y

Office/rec

eption

Port

erPa

tient

Doc

tor

Relat

ives

Nurse

F.M. St

aff

Staff

Doctor

Nurse

Educational institution

Comm

on room

Lavatory

Changing room

With

Classeroom

Cleaning

Kitche

n

Kitchen staff

showerWithout shower

TeacherStudent

Cle

anin

g

Teacher

Stud

ent

Chef

Common

room

Clothin

g

Children

HomesProfessional

Product DIY (low budget)

Product DIY (Timber merchant)

ArchitectCarpenterContractor

DIY

Time:Time:

Time:Time:

Tools: Tools:

Tools:Tools:

Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its, Met-hod reference

Matrix from 2nd stepPens, Whiteboard, Post-its, PC, Minerva-map, Customer/User facts

Participants:Participants:

Participants:Participants:

Cost:Cost:

Cost:Cost:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

ShortShort

ShortShort

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

Long

Long

LongLong

1-41-4

1-41-4

5-105-10

5-105-10

11+ 11+

11+ 11+

LowLow

LowLow

HighHigh

HighHigh

EasyEasy

EasyEasy

HardHard

HardHard

Time:Time:

Time:Time:

Tools: Tools:

Tools:Tools:

Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its, Met-hod reference

Matrix from 2nd stepPens, Whiteboard, Post-its, PC, Minerva-map, Customer/User facts

Participants:Participants:

Participants:Participants:

Cost:Cost:

Cost:Cost:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

ShortShort

ShortShort

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

Long

Long

LongLong

1-41-4

1-41-4

5-105-10

5-105-10

11+ 11+

11+ 11+

LowLow

LowLow

HighHigh

HighHigh

EasyEasy

EasyEasy

HardHard

HardHard

Title: User Values – From idea generation to idea clarification

Prepared by: Søren Wandahl, Alexia Jacobsen, Henrik Sørensen, Søren Bolvig Poulsen, Astrid Heidemann Lassen

Published by: Project InnoDoors at Center for Industrial Production, Aalborg University.

1st edition – Copyright 2011

Circulation: 200 printed, electronic version

Layout: Jesper Jønsson

ISBN: 978-87-91831-39-3

Projekt InnoDoors: Project InnoDoors is centered around the door manufactu-rer JELD-WEN Door Solutions and its value network. To-gether with the companies in the value network the project aims to increase the focus on exploiting growth potential through user-driven innovation. The project is funded by the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority.

The project period for InnoDoors runs from 01.10.2009 – 01.10.2011

Partners involved in Project InnoDoors: JELD-WEN Door Solutions, Optimera, Henning Larsen Architects, INWIDO DENMARK, HP3, Abson, Confederation of Danish Indu-stry, SmartCityDK, Center for Industrial Production (Aal-borg University), Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology (Aalborg University), and Department for Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (Aalborg University).

Why?

There are a number of good reasons to undertake a user seg-mentation that will shift the company’s focus from customers to users. Firstly, it is important to be aware that a customer is not always a user and vice versa. In user segmentation, a user can be regarded as a subcategory of the company’s custo-mers. An example of a customer segment is kindergartens and preschools, with subcategories of users such as teachers, pupils, and cleaning staff.

Most companies already categorize their customers in some way, making it quite easy to start the journey towards user focus and user-driven innovation.

However, users are very different and have specific needs and individual values, giving rise to a need for more knowledge of users and their use of the company’s product or service.What does a company gain from carrying out user segmenta-tion that it cannot gain from customer segmentation?

The answer is knowledge about users. The company acquires a deeper knowledge of the known users of its product or service and potentially knowledge of unknown or new users. Specific knowledge of the needs of users, whether conscious or subconscious, their values, and their use of the company’s products or services can be gained through user segmenta-tion. The company’s knowledge of its customers is updated and it gains insight into the direct connection between users and products or services.

All this knowledge is needed for innovation purposes, mea-ning that the actual effect of user segmentation is a larger number of more visible innovation ideas. These ideas ought to result in an increased number of realized new products and services, which will yield increased profit due to their basis in comprehensive knowledge about the users.In other words, user segmentation is an effective and syste-matic approach to user-driven innovation, and the results are visible on the bottom line.

How?

Understanding the importance of moving from customer focus to user focus is only the first step in the process. The-re is no doubt that arriving at this understanding is a very important step, but it is at least equally vital to shift focus from customer groups to actual user groups. There are many ways to do this, none of which are necessarily superior to the others. The method presented in this pamphlet is thus merely one way to shift the company’s focus to user groups. The central thing is to choose a method that is practical and usable.

The method presented in this pamphlet consists of four steps, which are described in detail in the following sections. A so-called ‘tool box’ is suggested for each step. The pur-pose of the tool box is to describe the elements that must be considered for each step to be performed as successfully as possible. The tool box contains elements such as tools, time requirements, participants, costs and difficulty. It should be stressed that management support across the company is central to the process, as some steps may require resource use that must be approved. In addition, management support is important to ensure that the process of moving from custo-mer focus to user focus is embedded in the organization and becomes part of operational routines.

In order to make the subject matter clearer and easier to un-derstand, the following makes use of the fictional example of ’InnoFloor’ A/S, which produces floors for both consumers and larger public projects. InnoFloor A/S has recently expe-rienced an increase in the number of competitors and must therefore resort to new methods to maintain its competitive position.

The goal of the first step is to define the various user seg-ments. This is based on the company’s existing customer seg-mentation. The Sales and Marketing department should be able to provide additional information if the customer seg-ments are difficult to remember or define.

In this step, it is important to draw on the knowledge and experience that members of the organization have built up over their time in the company or the industry in general. In-cluding people from different departments and management layers is therefore vital. Because this step builds on partici-pants’ knowledge of the industry, it may take longer than ex-pected. No investments are required for this step, aside from any costs associated with procuring a whiteboard, markers, and post-its.

The output of this step is a so-called ’user tree’ (see Figure 1). The illustration is based on the InnoFloor example. As men-tioned above, the user segmentation builds on the customer segments that are already in use. These are illustrated as the lowest branches on the tree. InnoFloor’s customer segments are Education Institutions, Healthcare Sector, Food Sector, Retail/Leisure Sector, and Home/Consumer Sector.

The branches that sprout from the customer segment bran-ches represent the user segments. If the first branching from the customer branch does not represent a group of physical

people, the branch is developed into further sub-branches. For example, ‘classroom’ branches from Education Institu-tions, but does not represent a group of physical people. It can be developed in the sub-branches of teacher, pupil, and cleaning staff.

This step should not be regarded as a one-off activity. On the contrary, the user tree must be continuously developed, and it is important to involve as many people as possible in this process.

During step 2, the goal is to bring a more systematic structure to the user tree developed in step 1. Furthermore, the focus areas for the next steps of the user segmentation are selected and prioritized.

The user tree is systematized by creating a matrix of customers along the horizontal axis and users on the vertical axis. Custo-mers are found in the lowest branches of the tree, while the outermost branches represent the users.

An example of the matrix for InnoFloor A/S is shown here.

The first step in filling in the matrix is to remove the squares where there is no connection between customer and user. The-se fields are shaded in gray on Figure 3. Only customer-user combinations that cannot occur should be removed. Fields should not be removed just because the company does not currently have any users in a certain customer group.

Formally, the focus has now shifted from customer to user, and the rest of this guide will be centered on the users. It is now time to fill out the squares in the matrix with all the know-ledge that company has about the different users. Naturally, the company may have a large amount of knowledge about some users, and less or even none at all about others. As a minimum, the available information about the behavior, needs, and characteristics of users should be inserted in the matrix. In addition, information about the company’s resources within

User Segmentation- From customer focus to user focus

Definition of User Segments

Systemisation of User Tree

Leisure

Bar

Store

Swimmingpool

Gallery

Alcoho

lClub

Women

Men

Supermark

et

Food

Bakery

Baker Cus

tomer

Assista

nt

Bar Fastf

ood K

itche

n

Kitc

hen

Mea

t cut

ter

Butc

her

Wait

er

Was

her

Hea

lthca

re se

ctor

Stor

age

room

Kitc

hen

Lava

tory

War

dAu

tops

y

Office/rec

eption

Porte

rPa

tient

Doc

tor

Relat

ives

Nurse

F.M. St

aff

Staff

Doctor

Nurse

Educational institution

Comm

on room

Lavatory

Changing room

With

Classeroom

Cleaning

Kitche

n

Kitchen staff

showerWithout shower

TeacherStudent

Clea

ningTeac

her

Stude

nt

Chef

Common

room

Clothing

Children

HomesProfessional

Product DIY (low budget)

Product DIY (Timber merchant)

ArchitectCarpenterContractor

DIY

the user segment should be included.

Placing users in a value map, the so-called Minerva map, should be considered. The Minerva map (see Figure 2) groups users in five categories based on their education, income, etc. This categorization is important because it creates a foundation for common understanding across the company.

Once all information has been collected, the time has come to carry out a critical prioritization of which user groups to focus on. Often, the company will lack the resources to involve all user groups in the innovation process, making it necessary to prioritize. In other cases, the company may already know so much about each user group that a narrower focus is not necessary.

Prioritization takes place by marking squares in the matrix with red, yellow, and green, where red is critical and green indicates that further attention is not required. When prioritizing user groups, it is recommended to evaluate both the potential of devoting further time to the user group and the estimated output in a cost-benefit assessment.

Figure 3 shows an example of a partially completed matrix.

1

2 Customer User

Education Health-care Home

Teacher

No resources - unfulfi lled needs - low investment - high interest - easily accessible -

“-The green”

StudentChildren - activity - few demands - resistant -cleaning-friendly - very easily accessible - few ews-souces, but enough - “The grey”

F.M. staff

Not easily available in speech - moving a lot - low income - low education - no focus - low on investment - no responsible

persons - ”The purple”

Kitchen-staff

Devoted in hygiene - many de-mands - 4% of turnover - high- tech product group - specialised shoes - primarily women - no re-sponsibility - high potential - call for high investment - “The pink”

PorterPatient

DoctorVery quality-conscious - mon-ey are subordinate - busy - high and many demands - resource

demanding - “The blue”

Relative

NurseLarge group- primarily wom-en - focus on ergonomics - moving - moving equipment

“The green”Staff

Product DIY (low)

80/20 rule - main market - sales division with 4 persons - large re-tailer network - high investment

in digital product catalougeProdukt DIY

(high)

Architect-user

Resource-demanding - rare and few customers - higher potential - low on investment - demand-ing collboration agreements -

“The blue and green”

Carpenter-user

Focus on quality - customer seeks advice - functionality - price-conscious - unknown marketshare - high potential - calls for medium investment -

“The blue and purple”Contractor-bruger

Leisure

Bar

Store

Swimmingpool

Gallery

Alcoho

lClub

Women

Men

Supermark

et

Food

Bakery

Baker Cus

tomer

Assista

nt

Bar Fastf

ood K

itche

n

Kitc

hen

Mea

t cut

ter

Butc

her

Wait

er

Was

her

Hea

lthca

re se

ctor

Stor

age

room

Kitc

hen

Lava

tory

War

dAu

tops

y

Office/rec

eption

Port

erPa

tient

Doc

tor

Relat

ives

Nurse

F.M. St

aff

Staff

Doctor

Nurse

Educational institution

Comm

on room

Lavatory

Changing room

With

Classeroom

Cleaning

Kitche

n

Kitchen staff

showerWithout shower

TeacherStudent

Clea

ningTeac

her

Stude

nt

Chef

Common

room

Clothing

Children

HomesProfessional

Product DIY (low budget)

Product DIY (Timber merchant)

ArchitectCarpenterContractor

DIY

Figure 1: User Tree

Figure 2: The Minerva Map Figure 3: Partially filled matrix

Media scepticism

Good will

Liberal - mindedness

EmpathyTolerance

ConsensusSensitive

Political enviroment orientationIndividuality

Consumptions

EgalitarianGlobalisation

Culturel liberalismeAnti-elite

Balanced careerActive enviromental impact

Spirit-power

New familyEquality man/woman

RobustPolitical influence

SuperiorityLiberalisme

Technology

ResultsDignity

MaterialismeOuter sensuality

Workaholics

Inconsiderate

Self-confidenceSoloist

AestheticsExcitement

Status NationalismeFree business

EgoismeConformity

Low and order

Family

LeisureReligion

InvestmentRegulation

TerrorismeAfraid og violence

Fear of technology

NøjsomhedRoots

Joy of nature

Considerate

PrivatiseingTracing

Modern

Idea

listic

Prag

mat

ic

Traditional

I-weekMedia-oriented

The ”grey”

The “blue”High education

High prestigeHigh income

People linked with the private

business community, result oriented.

The “Purple”Low educationMedium prestige

High income

People attached to the primary business,

and craftswork. Pratical work.

The “green”High education

high prestigeMedium income

People linked with the public and educational system.

Internal values.

The “Pink”Low education

Low PrestigeLow income

People link with family and the lokal area.

Care, internal values.

Time:Time:

Time:Time:

Tools: Tools:

Tools:Tools:

Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its, Met-hod reference

Matrix from 2nd stepPens, Whiteboard, Post-its, PC, Minerva-map, Customer/User facts

Participants:Participants:

Participants:Participants:

Cost:Cost:

Cost:Cost:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

ShortShort

ShortShort

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

Long

Long

LongLong

1-41-4

1-41-4

5-105-10

5-105-10

11+ 11+

11+ 11+

LowLow

LowLow

HighHigh

HighHigh

EasyEasy

EasyEasy

HardHard

HardHard

In the last step, the methods chosen in step 3 are applied. This step can be resource-intensive, depending on the na-ture of the tools chosen in step 3. A considerable amount of time and some investment may be required, for example in the case of creating a blog.

The knowledge achieved by working through the methods and tools is inserted into the matrix, so that the red and yellow fields defined in step 2 can now be said to be green.

Naturally, this step can only take place once all the planned tools have been applied, meaning that a long period of time may elapse between step 3 and this step.

Creating a user-driven innovation culture takes time and just carrying out the four steps presented in this pamphlet is not enough. The methods and culture must also take root in the organization. It is vital to create a feeling of ownership in key people and start a process where the user-driven met-hods are applied continuously. The needs of users change over time, making it necessary to repeat the steps described here at suitable intervals.

The following points should be given special attention in order to successfully embed the user-driven innovation cul-ture in the company:

► Top management: Work with user-driven innovation should take place in the entire organization, but no re-sults will be achieved unless it has the FULL support of top management.

► Cross-functional: Almost all parts of the organization will be affected by and profit from a transition to a user-driven innovation culture. A broad selection of people from across the organization should therefore be included from the start.

► Cost: Management must accept that resources in the form of both time and money will be needed.

► “An everyday thing”: Everyone is busy, and no one feels they have the time for another extra task. It is therefore important to attempt to integrate the steps in daily operations.

► Long term results: User-driven innovation is a jour-ney, and results will not be visible on the bottom line until late in the process.

Achieved Knowledge

Anchoring

Time:Time:

Time:Time:

Tools: Tools:

Tools:Tools:

Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its Pens, Whiteboard, Post-its, Met-hod reference

Matrix from 2nd stepPens, Whiteboard, Post-its, PC, Minerva-map, Customer/User facts

Participants:Participants:

Participants:Participants:

Cost:Cost:

Cost:Cost:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

Difficulty:Difficulty:

ShortShort

ShortShort

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

MediumMedium

Long

Long

LongLong

1-41-4

1-41-4

5-105-10

5-105-10

11+ 11+

11+ 11+

LowLow

LowLow

HighHigh

HighHigh

EasyEasy

EasyEasy

HardHard

HardHard

SWOT, Busines and Trend Analysis

User roles

Level of User-involvement

Developer

Passive observation Active observation Dialogue Active participation User-driven development

Improves

Evaluator

Informer

Not participating User Travels & Service Blueprint

Interviews

Research Guide

Interactive(IKEA Anna)

ProductPrototype

Online Communities, e.g. Linux

Video Card Game, Bodystorm

Photo Diary

Simulated Use

Rapid Prototyping

Super User Workshops

Lead Users

“Teach Me How”

Service Pilot

UsabilityTesting

Segmentation

Observat

ion

Brainstorming + Prioritising

Lego Serious Play

Personas

Mock-Up

User Panels

Co-Creatio

n

This step builds on the matrix developed in step 2, which resulted in a more detailed description of the users. The purpose of this step is to explore the yellow and red squa-res that were defined in step 2. A new matrix consisting only of the red and yellow fields is created (see Figure 5), and methods and tools are added for each field.

The methods and tools are drawn from the method graph, which was originally developed by Merit and Nielsen (2006) and later refined by the InnoDoors project group (see Figure 4). The x axis represents the level of user acti-vity and the y axis represents user roles. The level of user activity inspires reflection on whether the users will only be observed or if they will take active part in the develop-ment process. The level of user activity covers:

► Passive observation: Users are not part of develop-ment, but are observed within their own environ-ment and thereby provide insight into their daily life

► Active observation: Users are observed under pre-determined conditions

► Dialogue: Users are part of a conversation, for example in the form of an interview or a question-naire

► Active participation: Users are partners in various experiments and dialogues with the purpose of refining existing products and services or creating new ones.

► User-driven innovation: Users take the initiative and are the main partners in development of a product or service.

(Merit og Nielsen, 2007)

The user roles axis defines how users are involved in the development of a product or service. The user roles co-ver:

► Not participating: There is no direct access to users, and representatives are used instead.

► Informing: Users explain, inform about, and show their circumstances.

► Evaluating: Users are given the possibility to evaluate the new or improved product or service, for example through usability testing.

► Improving: Users provide ideas for changes and im-provements to the product or service.

► Developing

(Merit og Nielsen, 2007)

The various methods will not be explained in this pamph-let – we refer to the method handbook developed by In-noDoors as well as the following literature:

► Usability testing: Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of Usa-bility Testing. How to plan, design and conduct ef-fective tests, Kathrine Schowalter.

► Ethnographically inspired field work: Wynn, E. (1991). Taking practice seriously. Design at Work. J. Greenbaum, Kyng, M. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Law-rence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishers: s. 45-64.

► Co-creation methods: Battarbee, K. (2004). Co-expe-rience - understanding user experience in social int-eraction, Institute of Design. Helsinki, University of Art and Design Helsinki.

Step 3 can be approached in two ways. The company can choose to delegate each field to one or several persons, who are then responsible for filling in the tools to use to gain knowledge about the user group. Another approach is to first reach a consensus on which tools to use and then dele-gate responsibility for each field. The order in which these tasks are carried out is irrelevant. The important thing is to ensure that tools and one or several responsible persons are assigned for every field.

The output of this step is a new matrix made up of the yel-low and red fields from previous steps, which includes vari-ous tools and methods. Figure 5 is based on the InnoFloor example and shows that all the red and yellow fields from the step 2 matrix now form a new matrix, which contains both persons responsible for each field and the methods that will be applied.

Methods and Tools 3 4

Customer User

Education Health-care Home

TeacherInterview / Photo diary______________________

Responsible/Department: Lars M/Mar-keting

F.M. staffObservation of user______________________

Responsible/Department: Knud T/Pro-duction

Kitchen staffUser travels/observation______________________

Responsible/Department: Thea S/Procurement

DoctorUser travels/observation______________________

Responsible/Department: Sarah K/Business im-provement

NurseInterview/simulated use______________________

Responsible/Department:Kenneth K/Sales

Architect-userRapid prototyping/co-creation______________________

Responsible/Department: Fie N/R&D

Carpenter-userLego Serious Play/Interview______________________

Responsible/Department: Morten J/Product design

Figure 4: Method Map

Figure 5: Further development of matrix from 2nd step