"Make something people want." This common advice sounds simple. But it's about as helpful as telling a stock market investor, "Beat the market."
Steve Jobs said, “Some people say, 'Give the customers what they want.' But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”
In my own experience, whenever I asked people directly, "What do you want?" I got vague answers, shrugs, or talk about surface-level desires. Needs aren't just facts floating in the air. They pop up in specific situations. They're often unspoken, even hidden from the person themselves.
This guide helps you crack the riddle of unspoken needs. We'll move past just finding existing needs. Instead, we'll learn to spark and uncover them. You'll get new ways of thinking, methods, and practical tools. They'll help you understand and respond to what people need, even when it's not obvious.
New Ways to Think About Needs
To solve the puzzle of unclear needs, you need a fresh perspective. Shift from passively looking for answers. Start actively engaging and interpreting.
1. Think Like an Explorer
Don't ask, "What do you want?" Instead, act like an explorer. Dive into someone's world. Watch their habits, their daily grind, how they react to things. You're building a detailed picture of their life. Focus on how they do things, not just what they say they want.
But be careful. The deeper you look, the more details you find. It's easy to get lost in endless observations. Real, burning needs can get buried. Just collect neutral facts. Don't try to prove what you already think. Let the truth show itself.
2. Gently Poke the Bear
Forget being perfectly objective. Try leading with an idea or a hunch. Show someone your vision, or what you plan to build. Their fuzzy thoughts will suddenly snap into focus. It's like a thick liquid that turns solid when you press on it. Your perspective provides that pressure.
This shows a key truth: needs live in context. They aren't standalone facts. A need often appears because you gave it the right nudge. This nudging is a creative act. You're crafting words and actions that get the responses you want. Trying to be too objective might actually stop you from seeing what you hope to find.
3. Become the Right Kind of Person
Making things people want isn't about finding a magic formula. It's about learning, through trial and error, to be the person who can spark needs in others. This means sharpening your awareness and intuition.
That "right kind of person" notices small clues. They see a new restaurant with a line out the door. They don't just walk by. They go in, observe the details, and feel the vibe. They learn how to create that feeling later. It's like how AI learns: repeated tries build an inner sense of patterns. You're always learning, always growing. New ways to meet needs keep popping up. It's a constant process, like learning to walk. It feels clumsy at first, but soon you move without thinking.
How to Find What They Need
Once you've got the right mindset, use these methods. They'll help you systematically uncover and address those unspoken needs.
1. Listen Carefully and Attentively
Asking direct questions often fails. But truly listening is vital. Go beyond stiff interviews. Have real, natural chats. Make people feel like they're sharing, not being grilled.
Pay close attention to more than just words. Notice tone of voice, body language, and emotions. Hesitation, changes in speech, or shifts in feeling can reveal hidden needs and frustrations.
2. Observe Them Doing the Work
Observing people working in their natural environment is a powerful way. This is called ethnographic research or contextual inquiry. You see how they use products and services in real life. This direct observation reveals aspects that are not typically captured in a survey.
Think about why Unilever hires top management graduates and ask them to go to remote villages to observe how people wash their clothes using Unilever or their competitor products. They want to improve the detergent by observing how their consumer is using it. They watch people wash clothes, clean floors and utensils. They see the real problem firsthand. It was the messy, time-consuming job of cleaning the mop. They have solved numerous problems and created many products, changing cleaning forever.
3. Create Together
Bring users into your idea sessions. Co-design workshops are a goldmine for finding needs. They're fun, creative spaces. Users feel comfortable sharing what they want. They help shape the design.
This direct involvement gives you fresh ideas. It helps you break free from old ways of thinking. You'll build products and solutions that truly fit what users expect.
4. Watch for Your Own Blind Spots
No matter how you gather information, be careful of your own biases. These can be conscious or unconscious. They subtly change how you see and understand what people tell you. This can lead you away from the real facts.
- Confirmation bias: You only see what proves your existing beliefs.
- Selection bias: You only talk to certain types of users, missing other views.
- Halo effect: You think a product is great all around because you like one thing about it.
Build a team that thinks critically. Encourage healthy debate. Challenge assumptions. This makes sure your decisions come from facts, not your own blind spots.
Tools to Get Started
Here are practical tools and templates. They'll help you put these ideas into action. Use them to understand and tackle those unspoken user needs.
4.1. Empathy Maps
What they do: These maps help you deeply understand your users. They show what users say, think, do, and feel. This moves you past assumptions. It helps your team share a common view of the user.
How to use:
- Set your focus: Pick a specific user or group. Choose a task or situation to explore.
- Gather facts: Use interviews, observations, and field studies. Collect information about your user.
- Fill in the map: Based on your facts, fill in each section:
- Says: Direct quotes or common phrases from the user.
- Thinks: What the user might be thinking, even if they don't say it.
- Does: Actions, behaviours, and habits you anticipated.
- Feels: Their emotions, worries, and hopes.
- Find the good and bad: Look for what frustrates them (pains) and what they want to achieve (gains).
- Share and learn: Find patterns and new ideas. Share the map with your team. This builds shared understanding and helps with design choices.
User Story Maps
What they do: These maps show the whole experience a user has with a product or service. They help you spot every interaction point. You'll find problems and chances to make things better from the user's view.
Template:
How to use them:
- Pick your user and their goal: Who are you mapping for? What are they trying to do?
- Break it down: Divide their experience into clear steps. Think about awareness, buying, using, and staying loyal.
- Map their journey: For each step, write down what they do, what they think, and how they feel.
- Find the trouble spots: Note any frustrations or bad experiences at each step.
- Spot chances to improve: Brainstorm ways to fix problems. Think of new features that make the experience better.
- Make it visual, then refine: Use sticky notes or digital tools. Share the map with your team. Keep making it better as you learn more.
4.3. Contextual Inquiry Interview Guide
Your goal is to get rich, detailed information. You watch users in their natural setting as they do tasks. You ask questions right then and there. This uncovers hidden needs and unspoken habits.
Key ideas:
- Go to them: Interview people where they actually work or live.
- Context matters: Ask questions about what they're doing while they're doing it.
- Be a student: See the user as the expert. You're there to learn from them.
- Interpret and check: Constantly try to understand what you see and hear. Ask the user if your understanding is right.
Sample questions:
- To start:
- "Can you show me what you're doing right now?" (as they begin a task)
- "Tell me about a typical day when you deal with [relevant task or problem]."
- While watching:
- "Why did you just do that?" or "What were you thinking when you did X?"
- "Show me how you usually handle [specific step]."
- "What's hard or annoying about this part?"
- "Do you do anything to get around a problem here?"
- "What are you looking at right now?"
- "What's the point of this action?"
- To dig deeper:
- "You mentioned [something]. Tell me more about that."
- "How often does [problem] happen?"
- "What if you didn't do [action]?"
- "What tools do you use for this?"
- "If you had a magic wand, what would you change about this process?"
- To finish:
- "Is there anything else I should know about how you do [task] or the challenges you face?"
- "Did anything surprise you about our talk today?"
Tips for watching them work:
- Be ready, but flexible: Know what you want to see. But be open to surprises.
- Watch first, then ask: Let them show you before you interrupt.
- Don't lead them: Ask neutral questions. Don't put words in their mouth.
- Write it down: Take detailed notes. Take photos or videos if they say it's okay.
- Look for shortcuts: Users often invent their own ways to solve problems. These are rich sources of hidden needs.
- Notice unspoken cues: Frustration, hesitation, or joy can reveal what they really need.
4.4. Problem Statement Template
What it does: This template helps you clearly define a user problem. A good problem statement keeps everyone focused. It makes sure everyone agrees on what needs fixing.
Simple template:
[User Persona] needs a way to [User Need] because [Insight/Reason].
More detailed template:
Our [User Persona] has a problem when [Situation/Context] because [Reason/Pain Point]. This leads to [Negative Consequence].
We believe that by [Proposed Solution/Approach], we can help [User Persona] to [Desired Outcome/Benefit].
How to use it:
- Who's the user? Be specific. Is it "first-time remote workers" or "small business owners managing inventory"?
- What do they need? Use action words. "Manage their time effectively" or "track their sales."
- Why do they need it? What's the root cause or pain? This comes from your research. Maybe "they feel overwhelmed by distractions" or "they lack a central system."
- What's the bad outcome? (For the detailed template) What happens if you don't fix this? What's the negative impact?
- What's your idea? (For the detailed template) Briefly state a possible solution. This is just a guess, not the final answer.
- What's the good outcome? (For the detailed template) What's the positive result for the user if you solve this?
Examples:
- Simple: "First-time remote workers need a way to manage their time effectively because they feel overwhelmed by distractions at home."
- Detailed: "Our first-time remote workers struggle to focus on tasks. They're constantly interrupted by household distractions. This makes them less productive and more stressed.We think a structured daily planner with built-in focus timers can help. It'll let them concentrate and finish work efficiently."
Tips for writing good problem statements:
- Focus on the user, not your solution. Describe the problem from their side.
- Be clear and actionable. Avoid fuzzy language. The problem should guide your work.
- Back it with facts. Make sure your statement comes from research.
- Keep it short. One or two sentences, or a short paragraph, usually does the trick.
- Refine it. Problem statements can change as you learn more.
5. Putting It All to Work
Using these ideas and methods in real life is key. It's how you truly understand and fix those unspoken user needs.
Tips for applying these ideas:
- Start small, keep trying: Don't try to solve every unspoken need at once. Pick one user group, one small problem. Build a solution, gather feedback, and refine it for improvement.
- Work together: Engage different teams. Designers, engineers, marketing, and sales. Everyone sees things differently. This helps uncover all sides of a need.
- Build quick versions: Even rough prototypes are powerful. Show a tangible idea, even if it's not perfect. You'll get much clearer feedback than from just talking.
- Ask "Why?" (a lot): When users mention a need or problem, dig deeper. Find the real reasons behind it. The "five whys" technique can help here.
- Share what you learn: Use empathy maps and user story maps. Share your observations across your company. This builds a shared understanding. It stops good ideas from getting lost.
- Stay curious: Encourage your team to always wonder about user behavior. Question assumptions. Look for the quiet clues that show real needs.
What Should be Your Takeaway
Unclear user needs aren't a dead end. They're a chance for true innovation. Just asking people what they want won't cut it. Needs aren't fixed. They're fluid. They show up through interaction and a little nudge.
Here's what you'll gain from this guide:
- Shift your focus: Don't just find existing needs. Create situations that bring out hidden desires.
- Be an explorer: Watch users in their natural habitat. Focus on how they do things. Look for their workarounds and frustrations.
- Lead with your ideas: Don't be shy. Your perspective can spark clear feedback.
- Sharpen your intuition: Continue to observe, experiment, and learn. You'll build a natural feel for user behaviour.
- Use many methods: Combine active listening, observation, and co-creation. Get rich, detailed information.
- Fight your biases: Know your blind spots. Foster critical thinking. Make decisions based on facts.
- Use the tools: Empathy Maps, User Story Maps, Contextual Inquiry Guides, and Problem Statements. They'll organise your thoughts and help you share them.
- Keep learning: Understanding unspoken needs is an ongoing process. Start small, experiment, gather feedback, and refine your approach.
Embrace the unknown. Stay curious. Use these ideas, methods, and tools. You'll move past the challenge of unclear user needs. You'll consistently build things people truly want, even before they know it.
Note: If you need to discuss how the Appetals Solutions team can assist you through the process, please don't hesitate to contact us at sales@appetals.com.