1 Copyright © 2005 by ASME EFFECTS OF PRODUCT USAGE CONTEXT ON CONSUMER PRODUCT PREFERENCES Matthew G. Green matthew-green@mail.utexas.edu JunJay Tan junjaytan@mail.utexas.edu Julie S. Linsey jlinsey@mail.utexas.edu Carolyn C. Seepersad 1 ccseepersad@mail.utexas.edu Kristin L. Wood wood@mail.utexas.edu Dept. of Mechanical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 1 Corresponding author. (512)471-1985 (Ph). (512) 471-7682 (F) 2 Definitions of key terms are collected in Appendix A for reference. ABSTRACT We present a framework for understanding product usage context and its impact upon customer needs and product preferences. We conduct customer interviews with two sets of representative products from the functional families of “mobile lighting” and “food boiling” products. Customer interviews lead to identification and characterization of distinct product usage contexts. Interactive surveys measuring customer product choice support the hypothesis that customer product preferences differ for each usage context identified. Further analysis shows that attributes of these chosen products are related to factors of the usage context (e.g. mass is related to transportation mode). These results demonstrate that valuable insight for product design is available through an understanding of usage context, and future work will refine and test methods to formally bring contextual information to bear on product design. These capabilities will be especially important for contexts in which needs assessment has traditionally been difficult, such as with latent needs and frontier design environments. Keywords: Product definition, customer needs, product usage context, specifications, empirical study. 1 INTRO TO PRODUCT USAGE CONTEXT (PUC) Product usage context 2 (PUC) refers here to all factors characterizing the application and environment in which a product is used that may significantly impact customer preferences for product attributes. For the usage context of long-distance backpacking, for example, the remote outdoor environment is an important usage factor 2 , which leads customers to choose products with different attributes than they might for a domestic use. We use product attribute(s) 2 throughout to refer to important characteristics such as volume, mass, operating cost, and convenience (characteristics often included in product specifications or a customer requirements list). Table 1 shows examples of PUC differences which dramatically impact customer expectations of product attributes. Table 2 illustrates how usage factors such as storage mode or transportation mode impact customer preferences for attributes such as volume and mass. Table 1: Examples of PUC Differences Need (Product) PUC #1 PUC #2 Differences Cook food (Stove) Backpacking Domestic kitchen Size constraints, Energy supply Loosen/tighten nuts (Wrench) Space station Garage Ruggedness of use, Mass constraint Store ink writing (Paper) Office Clean room Allowable particle emissions Harvest crop (Scythe/Tractor) Rural village Commercial farm Maintenance, Prevailing wages Proceedings of IDETC/CIE 2005 ASME 2005 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference September 24-28, 2005, Long Beach, California USA DETC2005-85438