To Kindle or Not to Kindle: Customer Needs

Like many people, I’m trying to decide whether I want to buy an Amazon Kindle. Is it the latest must-have gadget? Definitely. Is it the most important publishing invention since Gutenberg’s printing press? Possibly. Am I excited about its implications for innovation? You betcha!

One of the things that I really admire about the Kindle is how well the solution takes into account customer needs, which I believe ultimately determines the success of any product or service. In helping clients create innovation breakthroughs, I always ask them to start by using a customer needs lens, with a focus on answering three questions:

1) What is the typical persona of the target customer?
2) What are the customer needs to be solved?
3) What product or service is being substituted or replaced (if any)?

Let’s look at the Kindle under this lens.

1) Target Customer Persona
The target customer for the Kindle is an on-the-go, high volume reader of books. My friend, Rachel, might represent a typical persona of the Kindle target customer. Rachel is 30 years old, lives in New York City, and works as a consultant. Although she has an iPod, she is by no means a tech enthusiast; in fact, she still doesn’t have an iPhone. And in terms of reading habits, Rachel likes to read a number of books simultaneously and finishes a couple every month.

2) Customer Needs to Solve
If we were to spend a day with Rachel, we would find that the top needs to solve for her include:

• Portability—Rachel is constantly traveling for her consulting work and for pleasure. She needs her reading material to be lightweight and easy to carry, so she can fill her free time meaningfully at airports, subways, and hotels.
  
  
• Easy Access—Rachel wants to read new material wherever she is. If she happens to be done or is bored with a particular book, she wants to easily access other books or even a magazine, ideally without going to a bookstore.
  
  
• Large Selection—Because she has a wide variety of interests, Rachel reads many different types of books, not just the New York Times bestsellers. When Rachel goes to the beach, she often brings a mix of magazines and books.
  

3) Substitution Effect
For someone like Rachel, the Kindle solution is seeking to replace a book...or really, a whole lot of books at one time. The challenge will be to adequately replace the book experience—including the feel and readability of a paper book—while also giving her some benefits that are unique to the Kindle experience.

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With the customer needs lens established, we can then meaningfully imagine and ideate a new book reading experience. In my next post, I will blog about how the Kindle experience addresses Rachel’s needs and the book substitution challenge.