SALOMON is an equipment manufacturer that primarily produces sports gear for outdoor activities. This ranges from running to skiing, including hiking, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, ski touring, and so on. The footwear department specifically handles running shoes, whether for trail, road, or hiking. What we aim to do more precisely is to thoroughly evaluate the interaction between the consumer and the product, in the most exhaustive way possible. This involves a very functional aspect, which we address through biomechanics or sensory analysis for the tactile, physical experience, and then a more visual, emotional aspect, which we address thanks to IGONOGO. My role is precisely to evaluate this interaction between consumers and users at different stages of the purchasing process, both when they first see the product on an e-commerce site – and in this case, the evaluation is done by IGONOGO – and when they first touch and try on a product in a store, and then when they use it in the field. I use various methods, such as sensory analysis, biomechanics, and physiology, to truly understand the product's impact on desirability from an emotional standpoint, but also in relation to performance and injury risk from a more rational perspective.
For one of the projects we worked on together, our challenge was to develop a solution that offered a specific functional benefit: "running efficiency." We wanted a shoe that would functionally allow the runner to expend less energy to run at a given speed. For the emotional aspect, knowing that it also plays a huge role in product choice, we wanted it to be a solution with high desirability in terms of purchase intent. Furthermore, we also wanted this product to truly express the function of "dynamism" and "performance"; we wanted it to visually convey this to the consumer as soon as they saw the product for the first time.
It's truly thanks to the methods IGONOGO proposed that we were able to evaluate this aspect. Before that, decisions were made in a very empirical way. With IGONOGO, we have data to support any direction, it was incredibly beneficial for the project, it really guided the decision.
IGONOGO's strength is your ability to apply highly theoretical concepts from cognitive and behavioral sciences to product development, and that's not always easy, believe me.
What we appreciate most is IGONOGO's unique expertise. We get implicit measurements, which are more reliable than self-reported questionnaires, along with the accumulation of quality data in a very short time. The IGONOGO team listens to us and adapts to our needs and expectations. Every deliverable and every solution you propose is unique. You tailor it to the client and the project, which is something we also value compared to larger institutes – it's your agility. In less than a month, you're able to provide us with qualitative data from hundreds of consumers worldwide. It's incredibly reassuring when starting a project to be guided and to have a team that knows various methods, such as workshop facilitation in addition to emotional testing, to support us throughout the entire process from A to Z – it's excellent.
Your results were as important as the functional aspect. For this project, we had 4 main ideas. To evaluate each idea, we based our assessment on three equally weighted criteria: purely industrial feasibility, performance from a purely functional standpoint, and desirability from a much more emotional perspective. IGONOGO provided 1/3 of the answer that allowed us to choose a direction; you contributed 33% to the decision we made.
IGONOGO provides quantitative data on the emotional aspect, which helps to add weight to our considerations, even if the final decision rests with the group. It allows us to make a decision with full awareness. We can choose to follow the results or go against them to push our convictions, all while being aware of what is desirable for a consumer today and what we are convinced we need to do.
The answer is yes, absolutely! This is truly valuable for very exploratory projects, especially when we're moving completely beyond what's currently on the market. It's guiding, and we genuinely discover new things. I really want to push IGONOGO to test product concepts, but also to test more esoteric ideas, more fundamental concepts. It helps us understand the size of the gap between the consumer and our idea, and to know what efforts are needed to make the idea accepted. It prepares us, rather than making a mistake at market launch and failing because we didn't understand the consumer.
I'd say 9.5; I've already done so both internally and externally. We talk about it a lot because it's truly an aspect that isn't addressed at all. Increasingly, companies are discussing perceived value and more emotional aspects. Today, this is becoming truly important, beyond the technical aspect, which is often addressed very empirically. The value we want to express through a product is much more significant than the technical means. IGONOGO allows us to objectify completely subjective notions – it's incredibly powerful and innovative!
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