Increasing Pleasure and Avoiding Pain
Increasing pleasure and avoiding pain may seem unrelated to product development. You will soon see that they are the most relevant factors if you choose to become a successful business. Failing to address the needs of your customer will result in either in less than spectacular results from your business activities or totally failing to close any transactions. To see the pleasure-pain principle in action, let's look at the following: After completing a long and arduous project, most male executives might buy a digital camera, a MP3 music player, a DVD player as a gadget toy, while a female executive might go to a spa, holiday at an idyllic location or buy some of the latest fashions. While this is embracing something fun (increasing pleasure), it also helps them 'escape' from the confines of their work environment (avoid pain). To create a product which might suit their needs, we could look ways to increase their pleasure, by creating products which will bring about a higher level of enjoyment that the products they are currently using. This could be electronic products with a better image display quality, higher storage capacity, or better features. We could arrange holidays to exotic locations, with more interesting activities. If we can surpass their existing options, we would have succeeded. Simultaneously, we can help reduce the pain they experience in the office, by improving their work environment. A mini oxygen generator may help them will feel refreshed after a long day's work. A CD with relaxing sound tracks can help calm and reduce the person's stress level. If a product is able to simultaneously increase pleasure and reduce pain, it would be a compelling option.
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