Title: Remote assessment of intangible product experiences - challenges and implications

Authors: Per Kristav; Anders Warell; Lena Sperling

Addresses: Division of Machine Design, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. ' Division of Industrial Design, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. ' Division of Industrial Design, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: This paper presents two pilot studies done as part of the development of a future tool for remote customer assessment of intangible product experiences. There is a need from industry to better understand how customers perceive products in relation to other products. The aim is to provide industry and researchers with a new approach that is easier to work with and that is more reliable than existing traditional web surveys. In the first study a mock-up tool was emailed to international respondents. The second study was a situated usability study of a prototype version of the tool concerned with how the respondent interface might be developed further from experiences made in the first study. The findings of this paper present suggestions to how future remote product assessments could be made more efficient. The contribution of this paper is the characteristics and quality of a new assessment method. Results from qualitative respondent assessments of the tool indicated that this objective was achieved.

Keywords: product assessment; evaluation tools; respondents; web-based survey; customer experiences; remote assessment; visual characteristics; industrial design; product design; product development; intangibles; customer perception.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2012.049836

International Journal of Product Development, 2012 Vol.16 No.3/4, pp.243 - 262

Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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