This article in the Washington Post talks about an entrepreneur who used voice of consumer feedback to be successful. Hyungsoo Kim developed a watch with braille numbers specifically for blind people. However, when he first brought it to focus groups he discovered that it wasn't what they wanted at all. He listened to how they wanted products that were inclusive instead of specifically designed for their disability.Kim took feedback from his focus groups and started again at square one building a product that appeals to both people who are and are not blind. This product has been much more successful than his original design.
Kim found a niche market and solved a problem that blind people were having with their current watches. Now that he has a brand and some recognition within this market he can identif more problems or areas where new products are in demand. A few of his ideas are focused around the technological trend of touch screens, which don't work for people who cannot see the different buttons. Developing new products for this market will allow Kim to grow his business.
This is a good example of modifying the product attributes based on market research. As a word of warning though--Focus Groups are helpful but are best used in context with broader based research A single Focus Group may only sample the opinion of eight or ten people, who may--or may not--be typical of the target audience.
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