Watch your extreme customers

Your extreme customers are leading you into the future - explicitly - if you just care to watch.

The Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier uses their maintenance and repair guys to watch what customers are doing with the appliances. Where are they used, in what environment, who is using them and for what purpose. When a lot of washing machines got clogged with dirt they did not just assume the customers were stupid - they investigated the root cause. What did they find? That their customers were cleaning vegetables in them - can you clean clothes you should be able to clean vegetables seems to be the logic. Did they put big warning signs on the appliance - DON'T WASH VEGETABLES? Did they sue them or tell their customers it was their own fault?

No they changed the design to enable washing of vegetables as well as clothes. They watched what their customers were using their products for, listened to why they wanted to use it that way and then changed their behavior and designed a machine meeting the needs. Did customers notice what Haier did? Were they happy? The answer was loud and clear - market share in rural China went from single digits to 24% in 3 months in a market growing exponentially.

How do you start listening to your extreme customers?
First of all, in an article in Harvard Business Review April 2010 issue (Behold your extreme customers) researchers found that only 8% of managers cater to the needs of extreme consumers - so you will be pretty alone. Your extreme consumers can be engaged through for example:

• Let customers take ownership. Let the customers form communities, groups and influence/control product development. Lego took a whole new route after gathering their most devoted users and developed Lego NXT, the Robot Lego.
• Ask customers for help. Involve extreme customers in focus groups, ask them to test products to the extreme or suggest new designs.
• Sponsor events. Extreme events targeting the extreme customer. Costume dressing parties, all-you-can-eat festivals or invitation only parties where you must prove you're an extreme customer.
• Share consumers’ stories. Share in papers, advertising or on the web the most extreme usage of your products. Let your extreme customer become the hero.

How can you let your extreme customers drive your product development, marketing and brandbuilding?