Squishier are observation studies and verbatim comments, which for that reason don’t get the attention they deserve. Approached, however, with the requisite empathy and insight, they can be in their own way more revealing than concrete findings. For one thing, even consumers sharply aware of a product’s or brand’s deficiencies can’t quite picture what might replace it. That’s why Henry Ford said that if he asked his customers before building his first car how he could better meet their transportation needs, they would have said simply, “Give us faster horses.” Properly understood, the currents beneath the surface that direct the flow of customer experience data will indicate the shape of the next major transformation.