All posts by Jaewoo Joo

Jaewoo teaches and writes about design thinking and behavioral economics for customer experience, new product development, and new product adoption. He is an associate professor of marketing and participating professor of experience design at Kookmin University.
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Interpret Voice of the Customer (VoC) from a customer’s perspective

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I was recently invited by Professor Aguinaldo Santos to give a lecture to his design students at Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). In this lecture, I introduced my collaborative project experience with a team of Digital Appliance (DA) Business Divisionan at Samsung Electronics. They develope washers, dryers, and refrigerators, to name a few.

The team members were familiar with the VoC (Voice of the Customer), which is defined as “a hierarchical set of “customer needs” where each need (or set of needs) has assigned to it a priority which indicates its importance to the customer (Griffin and Hauser 1993, p. 2).” They collected tons of feedback and expectations about their products.

Although their effort in comprehensively collecting VoC was impressive, the way they interpret VoC was not rigorous sufficiently. They could not help but rely on intuition or expertise, interpreting VoC in a biased way.

To debias VoC interpretation, we employed the Goal Systems Theory. Since this theory illustrates why people behave in such a way (e.g., I choose rucola because I want to lose 10 pounds), it enabled them to understand VoC from the writer’s viewpoint.

Then, we developed a guideline about how to interpret VoC from a customer’s perspecitve, and examined its effectiveness by testing 3,500 VoC. One lesson we have learned is that frequently reported VoC was not always the right source of innovation. Instead, the VoC connected with an important goal, though not frequently reported, pointed to the right direction.

Reference 1

Griffin, A., & Hauser, J. R. (1993). The Voice of the Customer. Marketing Science, 12(1), 1–27.

In recent years, many U.S. and Japanese firms have adopted Quality Function Deployment (QFD). QFD is a total-quality-management process in which the “voice of the customer” is deployed throughout the R&D, engineering, and manufacturing stages of product development. For example, in the first “house” of QFD, customer needs are linked to design attributes thus encouraging the joint consideration of marketing issues and engineering issues. This paper focuses on the “Voice-of-the-Customer’ component of QFD, that is, the tasks of identifying customer needs, structuring customer needs, and providing priorities for customer needs. In the identification stage, we address the questions of ( 1 ) how many customers need be interviewed, (2) how many analysts need to read the transcripts, (3) how many customer needs do we miss, and (4) are focus groups or one-on-one interviews superior? In the structuring stage the customer needs are arrayed into a hierarchy of primary, secondary, and tertiary needs. We compare group consensus (affinity) charts, a technique which accounts for most industry applications, with a technique based on customer-sort data. In the stage which provides priorities we present new data in which product concepts were created by product-development experts such that each concept stressed the fulfillment of one primary customer need. Customer interest in and preference for these concepts are compared to measured and estimated importances. We also address the question of whether frequency of mention can be used as a surrogate for importance. Finally, we examine the stated goal of QFD, customer satisfaction. Our data demonstrate a self-selection bias in satisfaction measures that are used commonly for QFD and for corporate incentive programs. We close with a brief application to illustrate

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Reference 2

Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., Friedman, R., Chun, W. Y., & Sleeth-Keppler, D. (2018). A theory of goal systems. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Department, Vol. 34, pp. 331–378). Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Academic Press.

The theory outlined in the present chapter adopts a cognitive approach to motivation. In the pages that follow we describe a research program premised on the notion that the cognitive treatment affords conceptual and methodological advantages enabling new insights into problems of motivated action, self-regulation, and self-control. We begin by placing our work in the broader historical context of social psychological theorizing about motivation and cognition. We then present our theoretical notions and trace their implications for a variety of psychological issues, including activity experience, goal commitment, choice, and substitution. The gist of the chapter that follows describes our empirical research concerning a broad range of phenomena informed by the goal-systemic analysis.

Publications

Lonely college students like human-like products

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Joo, J., & Hu, R. (2024). Wilson the volleyball in cast away: Social loneliness increases preferences for an anthropomorphic product. Archives of Design Research, 37(1), 85–101.

Abstract

Background We aim to study whether social loneliness, as a psychological variable, and social crowding, as an environmental variable, jointly influence people’s preference for an anthropomorphic product. Specifically, this study aims to test two hypotheses; whether social loneliness increases the preference for an anthropomorphic product and whether this effect is influenced by social crowding.

Methods Two experiments were conducted to test the two hypotheses. When manipulating the anthropomorphim of a product, social loneliness, and social crowding, we strictly followed the procedure of prior literature.

Results We obtained two findings. First, participants showed a stronger preference for the anthropomorphic product when they were socially lonely than when not. Second, when participants were socially crowded, their preferences for the anthropomorphic product did not increase even when they were socially lonely.

Conclusions Our findings suggest that people’s preference for an anthropomorphic product is jointly determined by social loneliness and social crowding. To make better use of anthropomorphism in product design, designers should consider both consumers’ social loneliness and stores’ social crowdedness.

Keywords:

Anthropomorphism, Product Design, Social Crowdedness, Social Loneliness

… The research demonstrates that social loneliness should not be viewed solely as a psychological issue, but can act as a pivotal factor in driving sales of anthropomorphized products. As such, marketers would benefit from focusing on consumer segments experiencing social loneliness. Additionally, incorporating anthropomorphic design and messaging into marketing communications could enhance product preference among these lonely consumers. Specifically targeting the anthropomorphic qualities of offerings to the socially lonely represents a viable strategy for boosting consumers’ attachment and sales potential. (pg. 97)

… when managers use anthropomorphism in marketing communications, they must consider both the psychological state of the target consumers and meet their needs and the social crowding of the environment. As suggested by the literature and supported by our experimental findings, the marketing of anthropomorphic products for lonely target groups should endeavor to choose less crowded social environments for publicity and promotion. This will enable consumers to easily and quickly find products that meet their belonging needs and thus promote sales and achieve good marketing effects. (pg. 97)

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Bundle multiple products in a human-centered way

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I recently gave a lecture at Ecobee, a smart home product company in Canada. In this lecture, I compared two different approaches when bundling multiple smart home products.

One is product-centered bundling; they can select a hero product or a product that contributes to their sales significantly and then attach additional products randomly. The other is human-centered (service-centered) bundling; they can select multiple products to form a service which helps consumers achieve their goals.

The product-centered bundling was previously employed among Samsung designers; they selected Galaxy mobile phone or Samsung TV and then added smart door lock or smart plug to create Multi Device Experience. However, we proposed them to adopt the human-centered (service-centered) approach.

The more I become interested in cognitive interventions, the more I delve into motivational goals. This is because we are able to change their behaviors if we know why consumers do what they do. I wish Ecobee designers apply goal to solve their business problems.

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Reference 1

Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., Friedman, R., Chun, W. Y., & Sleeth-Keppler, D. (2018). A theory of goal systems. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Department, Vol. 34, pp. 331–378). Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Academic Press.

The theory outlined in the present chapter adopts a cognitive approach to motivation. In the pages that follow we describe a research program premised on the notion that the cognitive treatment affords conceptual and methodological ad- vantages enabling new insights into problems of motivated action, self-regulation, and self-control. We begin by placing our work in the broader historical context of social psychological theorizing about motivation and cognition. We then present our theoretical notions and trace their implications for a variety of psychological issues, including activity experience, goal commitment, choice, and substitution. The gist of the chapter that follows describes our empirical research concerning a broad range of phenomena informed by the goal-systemic analysis.

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Reference 2

Hwang, S., Park, H., Sohn, M., Yoo, D., Han, C., & Joo, J. (2022). Goal based bundling: A behaviorally informed strategy to combine multiple smart products. In G. Bruyns & H. Wei (Eds.), IASDR (International Association of Societies of Design Research) 2021 – [ _ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes (pp. 2888–2901). Singapore: Springer.

Contemporary electronic manufacturers struggle with how to develop attractive bundles by combining their existing smart products. In the present work, we propose Goal Based Bundling (GBB) by drawing on the academic research of goal systems theory (Kruglanski et al. 2018) and shed light on two previously ignored aspects of bundling strategy: service and glue product. We applied our GBB to a collaborative project with Samsung Electronics, whose goal was to develop new product bundles for kids by combining multiple smart home products. We constructed a framework of Samsung Electronics’ smart products and then visualized it on its sales website. A UI design conveying the value of smart products bundle was developed based on GBB structure. We discuss the process and the result of our project to provide insights into the product managers who combine existing smart products to develop a bundle.

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Take a deep dive into customer experience with a behavioral lens

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I recently gave a lecture at the California State University Long Beach (CSULB). Two professors at the Department of Design, Shelley Takahashi and Max Beach, invited me for their Duncan Anderson Design Lecture Series.

Through the years, the Duncan Anderson Design Lecture Series has invited top professionals to share their knowledge and experience with design students at CSULB. This coming year marks the expansion of that series to a bi-monthly event. Thanks to Cecelia Anderson-Malcolm and the Duncan Anderson Endowment, CSULB now has an ongoing design lecture series to rival those at private design schools. The CSULB Industrial Design Program is working closely with IDSA-LA, and its student chapters, to schedule an exciting line-up of speakers. Please let your chapter officers know of professionals you want to meet and hear at future events.

In this lecture, I introduced why designers have to adopt behavioral science to understand customer experience deeply. For instance, prospect theory neatly elucidates why once people have a single extraordinary experience, they can no longer revert to previously satisfactory mundane experiences. It is because the extraordinary experience can become a reference point, while the mundane experiences transform into sources of negative affect. Since loss looms larger than gain, people avoid mundane experiences.

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-292.

Abstract

This paper presents a critique of expected utility theory as a descriptive model of decision making under risk, and develops an alternative model, called prospect theory. Choices among risky prospects exhibit several pervasive effects that are inconsistent with the basic tenets of utility theory. In particular, people underweight outcomes that are merely probable in comparison with outcomes that are obtained with certainty. This tendency, called the certainty effect, contributes to risk aversion in choices involving sure gains and to risk seeking in choices involving sure losses. In addition, people generally discard components that are shared by all prospects under consideration. This tendency, called the isolation effect, leads to inconsistent preferences when the same choice is presented in different forms. An alternative theory of choice is developed, in which value is assigned to gains and losses rather than to final assets and in which probabilities are replaced by decision weights. The value function is normally concave for gains, commonly convex for losses, and is generally steeper for losses than for gains. Decision weights are generally lower than the corresponding probabilities, except in the range of low probabilities. Overweighting of low probabilities may contribute to the attractiveness of both insurance and gambling.

Publications

DEO (Design Executive Officer) differs from CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

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Lee, Y., Joo, J., & Cooper, R. (2023). Deo leadership: How design executive officers lead creative organisations in Korea. Strategic Design Research Journal, 15(3 (September-December 2022)), 318–333.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Design Executive Officers (DEOs) manage creative employees. It differs from prior leadership research in creative industries in three ways; it focused on DEOs, specified their influences on an organisational level, and discovered Korea-specific insights. We conducted in-depth interviews with the seven DEOs who have run their own design agencies for over ten years and hired more than 50 employees in Korea. Our thematic analysis of the 287 quotations collected revealed that 75% of the quotations fit the existing leadership framework and the remaining 25% are two unique attributes of DEO leadership: attitudes toward deeds and business growth. We further verified our thematic analysis by recruiting DEOs and conducting an online survey. Our findings contribute to the academic discussion on design-driven entrepreneurship by shedding light on the changing role of designers in the entrepreneurial landscape.

Keywords:

design driven entrepreneurship, Design Executive Officers, leadership, creative industry, thematic analysis

… More specifically, we found that DEOs differ from CEOs in two aspects: attitudes towards leadership and business growth. These two unique attributes led DEOs to manage their organisations at a strategic level. While we aimed to understand the two unique attributes, we found several interesting behaviours of the DEOs who run their own Small- Medium Enterprises in Korea. For instance, they often emphasized a collective culture to overcome a lack of autonomy in their projects, answer demanding requests from clients, and deliver more than what clients requested, all of which was mainly driven by a hierarchical relationship between clients and agencies. (pp. 329-330)

… We want to highlight that our findings clearly demonstrate that designers shift their roles in the entrepreneurial landscape. Differently from prior work focusing exclusively on design tasks (Lima & Sangiorgi, 2018; Maciver, 2016; Nam & Jung, 2008) or design activities (Giudice & Ireland, 2013; Gloppen, 2009; Jevnaker, 2000), our findings shed light on how DEOs go beyond design to manage employees and address complex problems creatively. Indeed, the roles of CEOs in design companies described in the prior research are limited to supporters. They encouraged designers to concentrate on design tasks, made decisions beyond styling on behalf of designers, or shared the value of design with other employees or customers (Song & Chung, 2008). However, we found that DEOs played active roles in their organisations. (pg. 330)

Publications

Orderly spaces can promote impulse buying

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Shi, Y., & Joo, J. (2023). Effect of space order on impulse buying: Moderated by self-construal. Behavioral Sciences, 13 (8), 638.

Abstract:

Objective: Impulse buying is a recognized phenomenon as consumers have abundant shopping opportunities. We investigate whether orderly space encourages consumers to buy impulsively and whether this relationship is moderated by self-construal. Specifically, we hypothesize that consumers show greater impulse buying intentions when space is orderly than disorderly. We also hypothesize that when interdependent self-construal is primed, the effect of orderly space on consumers’ increased impulse buying intentions will be attenuated. Background: Our hypotheses are based on the research about emotions that consumers experience while they shop in a retail store. When the store is orderly, consumers experience pleasure. In contrast, disorganized shelves, unsorted merchandise, and messy clothing racks evoke negative emotions. A recent study shows consumers’ positive emotional responses to a retail environment result in heightened impulse buying. Methods: Two experiments were carried out to test the two hypotheses. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (space order: orderly vs. disorderly) between-subjects design. Participants randomly received one of the two store images and were asked to indicate their impulse-buying intentions. Experiment 2 employed a 2 (space order: orderly vs. disorderly) × 2 (self-construal: independent vs. interdependent) between-subjects design. Participants were randomly given one of the two store images and one of the two self-construal priming tasks to measure their impulse buying intentions. Results: As hypothesized, Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants exerted stronger impulse-buying intentions in an orderly space. Experiment 2 also showed that when participants were primed by inter- dependent self-construal, their impulse buying intentions did not differ, regardless of whether the space was orderly. Implications: Our findings provide insights for offline store managers. To nudge visitors to buy impulsively, managers should organize their spaces orderly. However, the effect of space order on consumers’ impulse buying will disappear when consumers’ interdependent self-construal is activated. Our findings contribute to the academic research into the factors that lead consumers to buy impulsively.

Keywords

impulse buying, space order, self-construal, off-line store, sales

Publications

People choose an aesthetic pen when exposed to a sexual image

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Geng, L., & Joo, J. (2023). A sexual photo and a dolphin shaped pen: Effect of visceral state on hedonic choice. Actas de Diseno, 18(43), 245–249.

Abstract

We investigate whether visceral state and temporal distance influenced their choice between a hedonic and a utilitarian product. We hypothesize that consumers are more likely to choose a hedonic product when they are hot (e.g., hungry or sexually driven) than when they are cold (e.g., not hungry or not sexually driven). We further hypothesize that the effect of visceral state on hedonic-utilitarian choice is moderated by temporal distance; hot-cold choice difference disappears when consumers make a choice in the distant future. Our two hypotheses were supported by two experiments. We discuss academic contributions and managerial implications of our findings.

Keywords

Visceral state, hedonic, utilitarian, temporal distance

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Designers should borrow insights from behavioral economics

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Many design practitioners aim to enhance the beauty of an existing product or develop novel products and services. However, market does not always pay off their effort. Carefully designed products often fail to attract consumers. What should designers do to enhance sales?

One solution is to borrow insights from behavioral economics. Studies show that behavioral economics can increase the adoption rate of newly designed products because it overcomes consumer resistance.

I was once invited by Palermo University in Argentina to share findings about the commercial impact of behavioral economics in the context of design. I shared my experimental findings about three Korean companies.

(1) Samsung’s printer would sell more if its ugly version is placed next to it because joint evaluation helps consumers consider aesthetics importantly,

(2) LG’s Styler would sell more if the clock in the store presents time in analog not in digital because doing so encourages consumers to think abstractly and creatively to appreciate the value of something new, and

(3) SK Telecom’s AI speaker would be used more often if it has a human feature and viewed as a foreigner or child because people become more tolerant about the mistakes of the AI speaker.

Cases

Artists anthropomorphize differently than designers or marketers do

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Anthropomorphism works. When a car has a human schema (e.g., smiley face), people evaluate it positively (Aggarwal and McGill 2007). When a garbage bin has a human message (e.g., “feed me”), people follow it (Ahn, Kim, Aggarwal 2013). When an AR speaker has eyes or when an instruction manual depicts it like a baby, people become generous about its malfunction (Park and Joo 2018).

Historically, an object was anthropomorphize in one of two ways. On one hand, designers add the parts of the human body such as eyes and arms to an inanimate object. For instance, a tip jar has a smiley face, two arms, and two legs. On the other hand, marketers add a phrase describing that the object behaves like a human being. For instance, a garbage bin eats food or a mobile phone becomes stupid.

Today, I noticed another way to anthropomorphize an object, which can be employed by artists. They do not add something to an inanimate object directly; instead they ask us to actively imagine that inanimate objects animate. This is well demonstrated by the artwork, Relatum – The Kiss (2023) by Lee Ufan. We imagine two stones are two people and they are kissing each other.

Kukje Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Lee Ufan on view from April 4 to May 28, 2023. Lee titles all his scultures Relatum and often provides subtitles to hint possible associations without giving a clear interpretation. Relatum signifies a relation that is different from a readily definable term, relationship, but one that explores the artist’s interest in how individual elements of a work are in a fluid relationship. In this way, the viewer, who directly intervenes in the space of the work as a relatum-along with factors such as the stone representing nature and the steel plate representing industrial society-feels a part of the conversation between the two objects or is led to reflect on the idea of co-presence by observing their conversation.

Lee employes an anthropomorphic metaphor in Relatum – The Kiss (2023), capturing a moment of encounter. As can be inferred by its subtitle, two stones are making a point of encounter as if they are kissing, while two individual chains surrounding them overlap and cross each other, thereby creating a point of intersection. The center of the cirucualr chians leading toward the position of each stone evokes a strong sense of motion…

Publications

AI needs support from people to make good logos, thankfully

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Bertao, R. A., Yeoun, M., and Joo, J. (2023), A blind spot in AI-powered logo makers: visual design principles, Visual Communication.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is already embedded in several digital tools used across design disciplines. Although it offers advantages in automating and facilitating design tasks, this technology has constraints to empowering practitioners. AI systems steadily incorporate machine learning to deliver meaningful designs but fail in critical dimensions such as creativity. Moreover, the intensive use of AI features to provide a design solution – so-called AI design – challenges the boundaries of the design field and designers’ roles. AI-powered logo makers exemplify a horizon where non-designers can access design tools to create a personal or business visual identity. However, in the current context, these online businesses are limited to randomize layout solutions lacking the visual properties a logo requires. This article reports mixed-method research focusing on AI-powered logo makers’ processes and outcomes. We investigated their capability to deliver consistent logo designs and to what extent their algorithms address logo design principles. Initially, our study identified representative visual principles in logo design-related literature. After probing AI-powered logo makers’ features that enable logo creation, we conducted an exploratory experiment to obtain solutions. Finally, we invited logo design experts to evaluate whether three visual principles (proportion, balance and unity) were incorporated into the layouts. The assessment’s results suggest that these AI design tools must calibrate the algorithms to provide solutions that meet expected logo design standards. Even focusing on a particular AI tool and a few visual principles, our research contributes to initial directions for developing algorithms that embody the complex aspects of visual design syntax.

Keywords

AI-powered logo maker, logo design, visual design principles, AI design, artificial intelligence