The other day a NY Times article quoted Steve Jobs as saying, when asked what market research went into the iPad, "None. It's not the consumers' job to know what they want." Classic Steve Jobs. And it works for him, and it's worked for Apple (although it didn't work so well for Apple when Steve Jobs wasn't CEO). I suspect this quote will embolden those who do not place a mission-critical value on customer research.
I would ask those people one simple question: Do you have people lining up overnight waiting for your next product release? Steve Jobs does. Just about every other company doesn't. You need the input of customers.
I've written about the need - no, requirement - for weaving customer research into the marketing process. It doesn't have to be a massive study. Sometimes all you need is a single day with 6 - 8 customers. Sometimes you need more.
Is a customer going to hand you your next disruptive innovation? No. But they will hand you a window into their psyche such that you and your team can come up with the next disruptive innovation. Make no mistake, all of Steve Jobs' innovations have come from consumer insights. It's just that they came from his own sense of customer needs and behaviors. Us mortal business people need the input of customers.
