When was the last time you spoke with your customers?

For commercial businesses, the customer is critical—or at least in theory. However, the results of our survey, Forte Pulse 2024, paint a different picture: only 33% of Norwegian leaders involve their customers early and continuously in product development.

At the same time, a full 81% consider delivering high customer value important, ranking it as a top priority for their organization.

This gap between good intentions and actual actions reveals that many still fail to harness the full potential of customer-centric product development in 2024.

In this context, the term "customers" refers to a commercial setting but can also include other types of end-users, such as employees using internal systems or members of non-commercial organizations.

There are several reasons why leadership in many Norwegian businesses fails to prioritize continuous customer and user involvement, despite good intentions.

No Ownership of the Customer or Customer Journey

Many organizations are structured in silos, creating artificial barriers between teams responsible for product development, sales, and customer service. Designers, developers, business leaders, and marketers often work in isolation, lacking the dialogue and tools necessary to collaborate and learn across functions. This lack of integration means no one takes ownership of the customer or the customer journey.

Assumptions Instead of Insights

Rather than basing decisions on real customer insights, many organizations rely on assumptions about customer needs. The argument "this is how we've always done it" becomes a crutch, especially in an era where digital development demands increased innovation and competitiveness.

Steve Blank, a founder of the Lean Startup movement, summarized it succinctly:

"...no facts exist inside the building, only opinions."

Lack of Competence and Resources

Even if leaders want to involve customers more, they often lack a concrete plan or the knowledge to do so effectively. Day-to-day operational tasks dominate the workday, making it challenging to allocate time and resources for insight-driven initiatives.

This challenge is also reflected in the Competence Paradox, highlighted in Forte Pulse 2024. While 76% of respondents reported that leadership lacks the necessary skills and tools to manage digital transformation, 67% stated that digital transformation is integrated into their company’s strategy. This paradox begs the question:

How can organizations succeed with digital transformation when the people driving these processes lack the proper competencies?

Over-Focusing on the Solution

As Marty Cagan, author of Inspired, puts it:

"Fall in love with the problem, not with the solution."

Organizations often jump straight to solutions without taking the time to understand customer needs and pain points. Businesses that don’t prioritize understanding the customer’s context risk creating products that fail to address real issues.

This leads to what Melissa Perri describes in her book Escaping the Build Trap: companies become so focused on building and delivering features that they lose sight of whether they’re creating true value for the customer.

Any business aiming to become more customer-centric should have a methodical approach and the right expertise in place to ensure the best possible outcomes. At the same time, it doesn’t take much to learn something valuable from your customers.

Here are some suggestions for activities:

Listening in on Customer Service

Tune in to conversations between customer service representatives and customers to understand the challenges they face. Log inquiries by category (e.g., technical issues, billing questions) to build a data foundation. Many customer service platforms offer built-in tools for categorizing and analyzing customer interactions.

User Testing

Invite customers to test your product, whether it’s a finished service, a prototype, or even a simple sketch. Jakob Nielsen, a leading authority on usability, advises:

"The best results come from testing with no more than 5 users and running as many small tests as you can afford."

Frequent, small-scale tests help identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

Observation

Observe how customers interact with your product or navigate the customer journey in their daily lives. Combine neutral observation with short interviews to gain deeper insights into their reactions, impressions, and pain points. This method can uncover unspoken needs or behaviors that surveys and direct feedback might miss.

To become more customer-centric, businesses must make changes in both culture and work methods. Here are three key areas to get started:

1. Build a Culture of Experimentation and Learning

Reward curiosity and learning within the organization. Create an environment where employees feel safe to test, fail, and learn—especially those closest to the customers. Encourage unfiltered feedback on what works and what doesn’t, enabling continuous improvement.

2. Break Down Silos

To enhance cross-functional collaboration, silos need to be dismantled. Take an honest look at how the organization is structured and consider whether it should be restructured based on how customers experience your company.

3. Introduce Customer Involvement Routines

Establish clear routines for regularly involving customers throughout the customer journey. If you haven’t mapped the customer journey yet, start today. Use it actively in your insight work to identify pain points and opportunities.

As Marty Cagan says:

“Never go more than two weeks without putting your product ideas in front of real users and customers.”

Forte Pulse 2024 reveals a significant opportunity to involve customers more and earlier in the processes. By making the voice of the customer an integral part of product development, customer value can be significantly enhanced.

To deliver real customer value, we need to move from assuming what customers need to observing, asking, testing, and learning directly from them.

So, when was the last time you spoke with your customers? Maybe it’s time to start today?