When Customers Want ‘Faster Horses’ That Means We Need More User Research (Not Less)

I once had a product person tell me there’s no reason to ask customers what they want because (using the quote often attributed to Henry Ford), “If I [Ford] had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

I said that’s exactly why we need User Experience Research. Then I had to explain why.

Traditional Product Research

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Customers

“We need faster horses.”

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Product Owners

“Our competitors created lighter horseshoes.”

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Sales

“Our customers are asking for lighter stirrups and saddles.”

Traditional research took what people were telling them at face value. So then it would become a feature factory spitting out the things they thought would make faster horses; better stirrups, lighter horseshoes, and maybe a fancy new saddle. Some people may have gotten super “innovative” and started genetically modifying horses to make them faster.

User Experience Research

UX researchers look at what people are saying and ask, “Why do they want this? What is trying to accomplish? What is the problem they are trying to solve for?”

They’d listen to the customer and understand that customers use horses to get from one destination to another. And the requests and feedback are all about making it faster.

So what customers really wanted was to get to their destination faster.

Usability Testing

Usability Testing is testing the proposed solutions to the problem. It’s part of user research that comes when trying to find the right solution. Sometimes you learn more about what they want (ex: needs to have room for two people), but it mostly tells you if it works for the customer.

If Ford wanted to find a solution for getting to them to their destination faster, he could have tested multiple solutions that were faster (see below), however with asking the right questions, many of these wouldn’t have needed testing at all (saving time and money) because it would be clear that these had some negative drawbacks.

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Cheetah

Can only go short distances; dangerous and hard to domesticate.

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Motorcycle

Only likes it in certain weather, and people want the ability to travel with others.

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Train

Customers don’t have the flexibility on their own time or go quickly for an emergency.

When they ask, do we need research?

Remind them that Ford didn’t just create more features for the horses, but built a car.

If Ford only cared about what competitors were doing (“make lighter horseshoes”), then they’d always be playing catch up.

The one who creates the car will maybe not release features as fast as the others, but they’ll be sure to win (both as the fastest and best selling) in the long run.