In a global world, anyone could be your customer, and invariably some will for reasons you likely do not understand. One person trying to understand why people buy the way they do is Jan Chipchase who wrote the book Hidden in Plain Sight – How to Create Extraordinary Products for Tomorrow’s Customers published by Imprint, NY, 2013. Mr. Chipchase specializes in figuring out how customers are for in the communications industry. This is important because roughly 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day, yet more than half the global populace owns a mobile phone and every year people around the world can do more with their phone.

With design, there are two standards – one the one the company thinks people will use and the one people actually use. Mr. Chipchase’s company tries to determine how people use products in “real life” settings. For example, Tata the car company in India has a car priced around $3,000; yet lower income Indians are not buying it. Why? some of the world’s toughest customers are the lower income because they can not afford to buy poorly designed products. It would be too expensive to repair it for the Nano was designed cheaply and had a reputation for catching fire.

Another example is how do people in the city send money back to their village? Remembering the branch system in North America does not exist. One method was to send it with someone (hopefully they are trustworthy). The method that grew up was to buy mobile phone airtime credits; the person who had the phone in the village (the operator of a small business) would redeem the airtime,  which she would then charge villagers to use. As villagers used the phone money would be paid to the family. No one knows who devise the system, but it works and money is sent to the villages.

The world’s busiest commuter station is Shinjuku Station in Tokyo where 3.64 people pass everyday. If you watch closely very few put paper ticket at the ticket gate – they use their phone which has a prepaid commuter card built in. Many other uses have flowed  from the need to move people quickly. Using your phone to pay at vending machines, etc. You can imagine with that many people, carrying bulky knapsacks is not something people do, but they can use their phone.

If you want to see a creative industry, check out how porn is delivered to meet customer demand. Try not to watch the porn, but concentrate on how it is delivered.

As you observe people you will see human behavior can be framed, decoded and analyzed well beyond what is articulated. You may even start to enjoy the things left unsaid more than those are expressed outright. For when a new technology comes along, you will have a sense of long-lasting benefits that point to a permanent shift in behavior or it is a novelty? How will they use your product?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every day or every week new products are launched and many go by the wayside. There are reasons for it, some are designed that way, some are designed poorly. Trying to understand the end user of the product can make the success more likely. Generally, what you think people will do, is not what people actually do. Look at the products of the companies you own stock in – how did they do? or is it a good thing the original brand worked really well?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.