The Customer Interaction Game

Abstract

This article describes a cooperation between a SME and a design researcher where research and marketing was integrated to explore new forms of customer interaction. The aim was to find a strategy for both marketing and customer feedback of new products. The feedback was analyzed on a general level and used in the further development of the products and marketing, but the analysis also aimed to find cultural differences between the customer groups and how this could affect the design. The marketing was directed to international customer groups with many language obstacles and the context of the sessions required a special kind of testing material. The sessions and the material were therefore designed as a game which both made it interesting for the customers and forced them to make decisions and remember the products as well as crossing language barriers and making it simple and intuitive to use for all.