Just a quick announcement: a new consumer product strategy survey will be launching tomorrow! The survey addresses how companies are using social media to influence product strategy:  whether companies do so, what kind of processes they have in place, and the general attitude about using social media in this way.  Participants will receive a copy of the research report sharing the results of the survey. 

I'll post again once the link is live; in the meantime, if you'd like to receive a direct invitation or set up a time to chat with me about how your company uses social tools in this way (or why your company doesn't!), please shoot me a note at dwilliams at forrester dot com.

My first report addressing Product Creation is now Web-live.  It's a case study about how Microsoft's Office team used customer inputs to shape the development of Office 2010.  Here's why Microsoft's approach is interesting to fellow product strategy professionals:

I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new web page on Forrester.com that is devoted to a key theme for the Consumer Product Strategy role:  the Convenience Quotient (CQ). Regular readers of this blog and of Forrester's CPS research will be familiar with CQ.  Now there is a single web resource for everything related to CQ: the methodology, why it's important, how it can be useful, what the standard deliverables are for a CQ project, and some of the possible add-ons to a CQ project.  It's also the most convenient (!) place to access all of our CQ reports, which provide a transparent look at the development of CQ scorecards for various services, products, channels and markets.

For the uninitiated, I invite you to click on the link above and explore the CQ consulting offering and our published reports.

Intrigued by what you've read?  Contact your AM or consulting@forrester.com and set up an Inquiry to talk it through.

That was the title of colleague James McQuivey’s track session here are Forrester’s Consumer Forum in Chicago.  For those unable to attend, here’s a quick synopsis of what James covered:

While attendees may think they have had enough of the term – and the concept of – “multi-channel,” the truth is that multi-channel has only just begun.  It’s not just in-person vs. phone vs. online.  The mobile channel is prominent today, and we’ve got new options coming, like connected TVs, that won’t emerge for another year or more.

James’s theme is this:  Your product or service is never more convenient than the channels through which people access it.  And convenience is bigger than you think.  It’s not a need or feature – it’s a measure of how well your features provide consumer benefits.  Regular readers of this blog will know that we at Forrester have captured the notion of convenience in the following equation

Convenience Quotient = Benefits – Barriers

Today Verizon announced a new customer service channel for its FiOS subscribers.  Dubbed "Verizon In-Home Agent," it's a desktop application that gives customers access to the type of back-office functions that typically require a call to a customer service agent.  Customers can use the tool to set up email accounts, configure a PC to work on a home network, upgrade TV channel packages, or modify phone or voice mail features, among other things.

When it comes to customer service, Verizon has just upped the ante on convenience.  As noted in my recent Convenience Quotient report on customer service, Web self-service is a popular method for consumers to resolve customer service issues, but FAQs/search, email and online chat have their own drawbacks.  Here, Verizon gives consumers the control and the content to resolve their own service issues without involving the company at all, if they wish. That's a huge benefit to some consumers -- not to mention Verizon -- although less tech-savvy consumers may be hesitant to use the In-Home Agent no matter how simple Verizon claims it to be.