> The customer doesn't understand all the tradeoffs.
Exactly! "Tuning" technology with the right features is an exercise in tradeoff-management. A better approach would be to ask customers to rank features, either against each other, and/or in general. "Driver visibility is more important to me than styling": [strongly agree][somewhat agree][not sure or mixed feelings][somewhat disagree][strongly disagree]. Of course styling is hard to judge without actually seeing what's at stake, but technical features may be easier to compare without visuals.
However, doing such surveys right will require customers who are ready and willing to take longer surveys. Perhaps give a general brand gift certificate to participants. There are special ways to construct surveys to ensure responses actually reflect customer opinions (consistency checks).
Exactly! "Tuning" technology with the right features is an exercise in tradeoff-management. A better approach would be to ask customers to rank features, either against each other, and/or in general. "Driver visibility is more important to me than styling": [strongly agree][somewhat agree][not sure or mixed feelings][somewhat disagree][strongly disagree]. Of course styling is hard to judge without actually seeing what's at stake, but technical features may be easier to compare without visuals.
However, doing such surveys right will require customers who are ready and willing to take longer surveys. Perhaps give a general brand gift certificate to participants. There are special ways to construct surveys to ensure responses actually reflect customer opinions (consistency checks).