Press Release
Listening to the customer
Information from existing Ford Galaxy customers has played a major role in developing the design and content of the new model. In addition to traditional market research activities, Ford has used for the first time in Europe ‘customer panels’ of existing owners, who have been involved throughout the vehicle development process. The panels have given their views direct to Ford’s designers and engineers at regular intervals, from initial design sketches to near-production readiness.
”This continuity of feedback gave us an invaluable grounding in what Galaxy customers want,” said Andrew Pollitt, Galaxy chief programme engineer. ”The panels reinforced our own conviction that owners view these vehicles as luxury saloons first and foremost, and only then as cars which also provide amazing versatility and space for up to seven people. That gave us real confidence to press ahead and create a stylish, upmarket new Ford Galaxy, with an interior worthy of a premium executive car, and top-of-the-range features and options.”
Customer Panels
- Twin customer panels in
- Continuous customer input gave courage for trying bold new ideas
- The opportunity for future input from Galaxy owners now widened with new Internet E-Club
As the start of a unique customer consultation exercise, Ford issued disposable cameras to around 30 existing Ford Galaxy owners in the summer of 1997 and asked them to record themselves and their families at work and at play with their vehicles. The resulting photos were the first step in a two-year long process that helped give Ford’s designers and engineers a deeper understanding of customer needs and aspirations, and which played a key role in shaping the new Ford Galaxy.
“At Ford, we have access to a huge amount of traditional, quantitative market research, which provides invaluable input. But for developing this vehicle we wanted to try something new,” said Andrew Pollitt, Ford Galaxy chief programme engineer. “We’ve always had lots of informal feedback from Galaxy buyers, telling us what they liked – and didn’t like – about their vehicles, and we wanted to harness this insight and enthusiasm. So as part of the development process for the new Galaxy, we brought to
The crucial difference between these panels and Ford’s usual customer research is that the same panel members are consulted at various stages during the vehicle’s development. For the new Galaxy programme, Ford set up two panels of around 15 people each, one based in
At initial meetings during July 1997, the photographs from the disposable cameras provided the basis for lengthy discussion with the Ford development team about these customers’ lifestyles, interests and activities, and how the current Ford Galaxy met their needs. Each panel spent several hours at a time with Ford’s engineers and designers, in carefully structured sessions run by an independent facilitator, to ensure that everyone’s voice was heard. Though the sessions started with formal research via a questionnaire, there was plenty of time for open discussion to share new ideas too.
One topic, for example, discussed at length during the first meeting was interior design, including concepts for the dashboard. Ford’s designers had sketched out three ideas, one with the controls ‘wrapped’ around the driver, one with a prominent central console running from floor to dash-top, and a third showing a much more open design, which proved a clear favourite.
“The panels were almost unanimous on this. They wanted to create an all-inclusive vehicle, where all the occupants were in ‘partnership’, rather than having the driver more isolated,” said Pollitt. “That message was communicated clearly from the first meeting, but some of the more detailed work on the dashboard showed the value of consistently consulting the same people.” Based on feedback from the initial meetings, Ford’s designers produced a mock-up of the dashboard to show at the second event three months later. They had responded to the panel’s requests for a high quality look, but were surprised. Though the customers liked the basic shape, they were not so happy with the traditional-looking ‘retro’ styling that the designers had chosen. Fortunately, this was early enough in the development process to allow for changes. The more geometric, high-tech design shown at the third set of meetings, the following February, proved a winner and this has largely been carried through to the finished vehicle.
In most other major areas, however, the panels’ input largely confirmed what the Ford Galaxy development team expected. The exterior design with its strong Ford corporate themes, for example, met with a very positive response right from the very start. The customer panels also confirmed the importance of plenty of stowage space. More than one person needed to be able to hide away clutter after a weekend, and reclaim the Ford Galaxy as a business vehicle for the working week.
So the new twin stowage boxes on the dash-top were an instant success. Meanwhile, detailed suggestions from several panel members led to larger front door pockets for the new Ford Galaxy. By the time of the fourth and final panel meetings in May 1999, Ford was mainly looking for detailed input on proposed paint colours, trim materials and finishes. But they did have one more surprise for the customer panels – a demonstration of a sophisticated multi-media system, which could show video or even computer games output for the rear-seat passengers. The development team guessed correctly that this would receive a very positive response from the panel, who saw it as a really useful addition, especially for keeping passengers entertained on long journeys.
Throughout the process, the British and German panels generally gave very similar feedback. From more traditional research, the Ford team know that there are no major differences in Ford Galaxy usage patterns across European markets, and the standard Ford process of showing near-final designs at ‘customer clinics’ proved that the new panels spoke very effectively for Galaxy customers at large.
“This unique input from the consumer panels has played a very positive role in helping us develop the new Ford Galaxy,” said Andrew Pollitt. “The members have consistently given us very honest feedback, and I believe that we’ve responded by treating them as an integral part of the whole team. While they’ve provided us with the occasional correcting hand on the tiller, their greatest contribution has been in giving us the courage to push forward with some bold new ideas, like the dashboard styling and the multi-media system.”
Ford are so positive about the value of this feedback from existing Ford Galaxy owners, that they have recently taken the idea one step further, with the introduction of the Ford Galaxy E-Club on the Internet, another first for Ford in Europe. Registered owners can raise issues or comments of their own, while members of the Ford team now have an ideal sounding board for new ideas, services or options.
“The more we communicate with our customers, the more we’ll think like them,” said Andrew Pollitt. “We involved many members of the Ford development team with the customer panels, but by using the Internet, everyone on the Galaxy team can talk or listen directly to the customer whenever they need to. That’s a hugely powerful tool that I’m sure will help us keep the new Galaxy one step ahead of the competition, as well as providing a very exciting resource when we come to future vehicles.”
