Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Is Wrong – LIVE Report @ Forrester Consumer Forum 2008

LIVE Report @ Forrester Consumer Forum 2008
Speaker: James McQuivey, Ph.D., Vice President, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Is Wrong.  Needs are…

• Not exclusive
• Not hierarchical
• Not fixed

4 Universal Needs That People Share (Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef created this universal needs theory about 20 years ago)

1.       Connection
2.       Uniqueness
3.       Comfort
4.       Variety

What we know about these universal needs…

• Everyone has all four
• But they vary for each individual
• Each person’s need profile can also shift
• As a result, people will tradeoff needs against each other

Convenience Is A Way To Delivery A Solution (your product/service with a benefit) To A Need In A Way That Overcomes Any Adoption Friction (barriers).

• When reduced to an equation, it looks like: Convenience = Benefits – Barriers
• From this, a Convenience Quotient (CQ) can be generated which…
  • Is a single score between -1 and 1 with 1 being the best score and -1 being the worst score
  • Tells you how you compare to your immediate competitor(s)
  • Tells you how you compare with all alternatives ways to meet the same need

What To Do?

1.       Know your target consumer’s target need profile & recognize that they will shift, but NOT change fundamentally
2.       Know & increase your convenience quotient (CQ)

Conclusion: People share a set of universal needs.  Satisfy those needs with convenience and you will win.