Consumer Foresight: The one handed world by Kelley Styring @InsightFarm #AMAresearch #MRX

Welcome to this series of live blogs from the American Marketing Association’s Research & Strategy Summit in Las Vegas. Any errors, omissions, or silly side comments are my own.

Kelley Styring, Principal, InsightFarm, Inc.

Products and packages have not been designed to be operated with one hand. Not can openers, not shoe laces, not opening boxes, not open CD wrappers.
People who only have one hand are the research subjects here. Study extreme populations to give you foresight – not every weirdo is a market.
Watch a one handed person tie their shoes. It’s a cool trick, a proof of competency.
One of your hands is full of a coffee or a steering wheel or something else, so really we should design for a one handed word

Look for compensatory behaviours.
40% of the time, 1 hand is occupied with something. 13% of the time its a cell phone. After that, carrying things, smoking etc.
A one handed world means a better world for everyone. Differs from universal design which is “access for all”
Phase 1 was qual, 6 people. Interviews with show and tell and deep probes.
Phase 2 was quant. What’s most difficult? Tools, health and medical, cooking and eating, snacks, beverages
Key themes: Holding an apple is manipulating. Using a cell phone is stabilize and manipulate. Flossing is manipulate with two hands. Two handed manipulation is the worst when it comes to one handedness.
“Cling wrap is my mortal enemy” :)
Hero products – slip on shoes, sweatpants, handsfree dispensers
Liquids in flexible packages like a juicebox – this is terrible. Spills all over.
Pull tabs on packages don’t open consistently, rips without actually opening the package, or it spills all over. Food in a plastic bag in a box, like cereal. This is an innovation opportunity.
What about pull tabs on glued surfaces – eg tube chips or mouthwash bottles or bandages.
Anything difficult with two hands is twice as hard as one – think of those produce bags at the grocery store. And what about the heavy products like laundry detergent or cases of water.
Surface friction can determine success to incorporate friction into design. E.g., dishes are slippery in the sink so people put a towel in the bottom of the sink.
Total Fail products – dental floss, food requiring expensive can openers, juice boxes, shoes that tie
Innovation opportunities [you'll have to ask Kelley for the details on each of the following]
1. intuitive design
2. self stabilizing products
3. one handed stabilization and manipulation, e.g., putting on chapstick one handed
4. toothiness – products intended to be opened with the teeth
5. friendly friction
6. bottom dispensing – use gravity – upside down ketchup
7. packages that want to be opened, a simple squish pops it open
8. air as a propellant – squishing a chip bag
9. Lever effects – push to open something
10. Finger pry
11. finger twist – opening a ziplock bag by twisting the bag
12. finger scissors
13. Hovering thumb like using a phone
14. shopper consideration – weight, handles, gripability
15. hands free alternatives – no tie shoes
16. soft packages with rigidity
17. packages that ALWAYS open properly
18. full grip pull tabs. the tab is never big enough
Had people hold a baby doll while they tried to open a baby bottle
Be broad in your consumption of knowledge