استفاده از طراحی محصول استراتژیکی برای ایجاد ارتباطات عمیق تر با مصرف کننده

Historically, product design has most often been considered a process for creating functional differentiation through added features, superior performance, and so forth. However, with the advent of more design-oriented companies, such as Apple, Dyson, and others, design is increasingly being seen as an important strategic tool in creating preference and deeper emotional value for the consumer. In this research, we show how different design elements may be used strategically to create two very different outcome chains from a consumer's perspective. This work shows that certain design elements are more likely to create functional product differentiation and transactional consumer outcomes, while other design strategies tap a more emotional form of value creation. As we show, an emotional focus in value creation is more likely to create desired and powerful outcomes such as loyalty, joy of use, and even passion. Given current business trends towards relationship-based customer management, this emphasis on emotional value creation through product design is particularly relevant. In order to make these ideas actionable, we offer specific product design strategies that managers can use to enhance the transactional and relational value of their customer relationships.

This article reported the results of an extensive grounded theory study designed to consider three related research questions: (1) What is the nature of design? (2) What specific influences can design have on current and potential customers? And (3) how can design tactics, strategies and goals translate into value for the consumer and the firm? After a lengthy research process we developed some novel and valuable perspectives on design. The model we developed provides a concise yet insightful heuristic for the manager trying to consider the uses and value of product design. The two parallel models of the potential benefits of design, functionally-driven and emotionally-driven, suggest that design can lead to quite different sets of marketplace outcomes. We suggest that the lesser-used emotional approach to design has the potential for deeper relational outcomes with the customer and more powerful positive effects on the firm's bottom line. However, despite the emphasis on these relational outcomes here, there is clearly a symbiosis between these outcome groups; it seems unlikely that deep customer passion can be engendered by a product that does not possess at least adequate functional characteristics. Next, we considered how managers can use these perspectives on design more directly in order to create products that hold more value and create a greater powerful impact in the marketplace. The strategic view of design we offered linked various specific design tactics to three general strategies for design: utilitarian, kinesthetic, and visual. These three design strategies suggest how even non-design managers can think about design in a meaningful, profit-driven way. It should be reiterated that these are not mutually exclusive approaches. The more design elements with impact that can be infused in a product, the more positive outcomes it should achieve, both transactional and relational. Though these models are generalizations, they do offer a structure for thinking about design from a managerial perspective that has been missing from the literature. As competition among virtually all consumer goods categories has intensified, product design has increasingly been recognized as a powerful differentiating factor in the marketplace. However, many businesses feel that design expertise is restricted and sometimes even guarded within the confines of a new product team or external design consultancy. While the tactics used in design are complex, the basic strategies and objectives underlying them should not be. This article presents frameworks for better understanding design from a strategic perspective and using design to elevate a firm's offerings to a more dominant position in the market.