Lead User Research

Who is Lead User

• In the target application: users who have actually experimented with developing prototypes
• In Analogous markets: fields with similar applications
• Involved with the more attributes of problems faced by users in target market market

Characteristics of Lead User

• Lead users have new product or service needs that will be general in the marketplace, but they face them months or years before the bulk of the market encounters them
• Land users expect to benefit significantly by finding a solution to their needs.
• Lead users are not the same as “early adopters” – users who are among the first people to purchase an existing product or service. Lead users are facing needs for products and services that do not exist on the market

Lead users are not necessarily recognized as “opinion leader” in the field, they lead with respect to cutting-edge applications of important applications of important market and technical trends, they generally experience needs ahead of the market segment in which they operate.

Lead users Methods

• Access to richer and more reliable information on emerging customer needs than can be provided through traditional marketing research. Complement the need to traditional marketing research
• Development of better products and service concepts since these come out of better data on consumer’s likely needs
• Acceleration of the product and service development process

Challenges to the Lead user methods

• Difficulty in predicting the pathway from start to finish
• The high level of commitment needed in terms of quality and quantity of human resources
• Difficulties in assessing any given individual’s participation in a team-based effort