When we are developing a new product, we would often brainstorm ideas from the perspectives of our customers or ourselves, because we suppose others would want what we want.
In an experiment conducted in the University of Chicago, the subjects who were a group of students, were asked whether they currently had a phone and the number of people in the class who they think currently had a phone.
Students who had their phones estimated that an average of 65% of students had a phone, while students who didn’t have their phones estimated the proportion to be an average of 40%.
In reality, 50% of the class had a phone. From this, it could be seen that we would mistakenly think that others behave or think in the same way as us.
When we are doing marketing, we should consider our customers, competitors and the company’s advantage. Understanding these three perspectives could help us think about what product or service to provide. Corporations will investigate the products and services from their competitors in order to find out its own advantages and develop products that suit customers’ wants.
The products may not be popular even if they’re developed according to the results from a marketing survey. This is because the products that customers want are usually seen by customers before they really become what customers want.