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Developing business ideas for drone technologies
Developing business ideas for drone technologies

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2.1.2 Customer gains

The customer gains block relates to the outcomes that customers connect to the product or service. For instance, with their bank account, customers might expect to receive instant notifications on their smartphone whenever their debit card is used. But that’s not all: another gain could be the insight provided on their finances, indicating whether their monthly spendings are in line with the previous month or if they are overspending. This more advanced feature might be perceived as useful by some customers, but instead as an invasion of privacy by other customers.

Osterwalder et al. (2014) suggest categorising customer gains into four categories. These are shown in the table below, using an example based on an electric car.

Table 1 The four categories of customer gains (the benefits and outcomes desired by customers)
Customer gains type Description Example
Required gains Necessary customer gains that enable a solution to work The basic car functions to drive smoothly and monitor the level of the battery
Expected gains Basic customer gains expected from a product The possibility to connect to services such as Android Auto and Apple Car
Desired gains The gains that customers consider beyond their expectations The presence of a reverse camera for parking
Unexpected gains Gains that customers did not think of The possibility to open the car from the smartphone

In the following activity, you will practise categorising the gains yourself.

Activity 2

Timing: Allow approximately 5 minutes.

Booking a hotel or another accommodation online is a common activity. What would you expect from it in terms of customer gains? Match each customer gain with its possible category.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

  1. Required gain

  2. Desired gain

  3. Unexpected gain

  4. Desired gain

  5. Required gain

  • a.Option of contacting the venue to indicate the time of arrival

  • b.Payment is processed correctly

  • c.Availability of the room at arrival

  • d.Collecting loyalty points to earn discounts

  • e.Ability to modify the booking dates

The correct answers are:
  • 1 = b
  • 2 = a
  • 3 = d
  • 4 = e
  • 5 = c

Of course, these are just a few examples of possible customer gains in this context, and the different customer segments may seek out many other alternatives (e.g. the option of adding a third bed).