Mastering Demand Analysis: Turning User Needs into Product Features

What exactly is the process of "demand analysis"? How do seemingly similar terms like "user needs," "product requirements," and "product features" differ? Reflecting on my understanding from three years ago, I feel I can explain it more thoroughly.

This process can be visualized as a "Y": demand analysis follows the path 1 → 2 → 3, converting "user needs" into "product features".

Demand analysis Y

Explanation of the diagram:

In the Y diagram, the higher parts represent solutions, while the lower parts represent underlying purposes. "1 – User needs" often appear as users' own solutions, which can be suboptimal, but a good "3 – Product features" must stem from user needs rather than being invented from thin air. Thus, whether you "listen to users" or not is the same idea; more precisely, you should "listen to users but not copy them verbatim." Also, do not mistake "creating demand": you can only create solutions that satisfy user needs—product features—not the user needs themselves.

1 → 2 , by asking "Why," you gradually summarize; 2 → 3 , by asking "How," you gradually deduce. The process uses various auxiliary information such as data, competitors, industry, etc.

Tracing "2 – product requirements" back to "4 – Maslow needs" is optional, drawn as a dashed line for theoretical completeness; if interested, each product requirement can be linked to a Maslow level. How we choose the level for "2 – product requirement" depends on company and product positioning, see the example below.

Let’s use the overused "buying a drill" story. Suppose you are a product manager at a matchmaking agency—can you find an opportunity?

Xiao Ming says, "I want to buy a drill." This is a user need, his perceived solution.

If he talks to a regular salesperson, they might sell him the drill for 500 yuan. But if Xiao Ming meets a product manager, the product manager asks—

"Why?"

"I want to make a hole in the wall."

Some product managers stop here and say, you don’t need to buy a drill; we offer on‑site drilling service for 50 yuan, saving 90%. If your company’s positioning aligns, that’s great. If the company doesn’t provide such a product, they continue asking.

"Why?"

"I want to hang a painting on the wall."

Now another product manager finds a product requirement. He says, we are a conglomerate, we also sell paintings and provide installation! So 50 yuan also saves, and we uncover a new opportunity—painting demand. But as a matchmaking‑agency product manager, you have to keep asking.

"Why?"

"Because the room feels too empty, uncomfortable."

Thus the product requirement becomes home‑decoration service, then "How" leads to specific features like adding a warm‑colored wall lamp, laying a carpet… Xiao Ming frowns, feeling something is still off.

"Why?"

"I’m an IT worker, busy, no time for a girlfriend, work late, see a big white wall, feel lonely, not homey."

"Bingo, why?"

"You laugh what…"

Now you see: for a person wanting a drill, a matchmaking agency also has an opportunity. The point where "Why" stops and becomes a product requirement depends entirely on product positioning, not on the user. If we dig deeper, Xiao Ming’s need lies at Maslow’s third level—social belonging.

In practice, to simplify, Y can be reduced to V, and to verify whether product features satisfy product requirements, we can go back down Why and up How repeatedly, forming a W.