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University of Arizona Consumer Research Study EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study, conducted in February and March 1998, was designed to gain insights and perspectives on customer satisfaction
with DataHand ® products. This reports those findings, organized around the four major research questions that drove the research design and methodology. As noted in the methodology
section, study participants used DataHand an average of 7.4 hours per day. Some have used DataHand for less than three months, and some have used DataHand for over three years.
Participants include programmers, writers, secretaries, and various other types of user. RESEARCH QUESTION 1:
Why is DataHand the keyboard of choice? The medical/health issues reported by DataHand users when asked why the standard keyboard is not an option included: 40% Chronic Pain, 25% Wrist Pain and 10% Overall Fatigue. DataHand's medical/health claims represent a clear set of benefits to DataHand users. This suggests one of the ways to position DataHand is in terms of its health and medical benefits. RESEARCH QUESTION 2:
What do customers like about DataHand? RESEARCH QUESTION 3:
What Product Attributes are associated with DataHand? As the experience with DataHand products increases, the overall comfort becomes better. This suggests that user manuals and sales training materials should emphasize the fact that DataHand's comfort gets even better over time. DataHand was considered easy to use by over 75% of those in the survey. This result might mitigate prospective purchase concerns at initial exposure to the product. Productivity increase was reported by over 60% of DataHand users. Although productivity was not rated highly as a reason for purchase, this benefit will broaden DataHand's overall market appeal and could foster a new positioning strategy for the products. The health and physical attributes suggest that the expectations of the DataHand users in terms of health and physical claims were, indeed, met. DataHand users reported they do not tire as easily...over 90% reported DataHand reduced fatigue. About 94% of DataHand users reported that DataHand reduced stress on their wrists and 97% found DataHand to reduce overall discomfort. About 60% reported that without DataHand, they would not be able to work. This is a compelling "story" for DataHand to tell. It is a product with an "enabling" attribute, giving workers a way to continue being productive members in the workplace. RESEARCH QUESTION 4:
How does DataHand Compare? In terms of productivity, 61% of DataHand users report an improvement in productivity compared to a standard keyboard.
RQ 1: Why do they use DataHand? 
Medical or health reasons were overwhelmingly cited as the reason for purchasing DataHand...84% reported these as factors. (Note: User comments are presented in capitalized form and without quotes throughout this report.)
Medical / Health reasons include (number of instances):
"Other" reasons include:
Here's an analysis of the medical/health issues reported by DataHand users when asked why the standard keyboard is not an option. The health issues cited by DataHand users included: 40% Chronic Pain, 25% Wrist Pain and 10% Overall Fatigue.   
DataHand's medical/health claims represent a clear set of benefits to DataHand users. This suggests one of the ways to
position DataHand is in terms of its health and medical benefits. RQ2: What do customers like about DataHand? 
In general, DataHand users registered a high rate of satisfaction...84% were either extremely, or very satisfied. 94% of DataHand users would recommend DataHand to others. (Note: The participant who was not satisfied has used DataHand for less than three months.) 
The cross tabulation of overall satisfaction with time shows that as the time using DataHand increases, the overall satisfaction is also likely to increase. Specific comments about satisfaction with DataHand:
As DataHand is used over time, users become more likely to recommend it. The referral process seems to have a gestation period of about 3 months, which also coincides with the learning curve experienced by DataHand users. RQ 3: What are the product attributes reported by DataHand customers?
Product Attribute 1: Comfort 
In addition to its health and medical attributes, DataHand also ranked high in terms of "comfort"...71% reported this
comfort attribute, including over half who thought DataHand was "very" comfortable. Only users who suffered injuries prior to their Datahand purchase reported experiencing some
discomfort. 
Not surprisingly, the length of time using the DataHand products had an impact on the overall level of comfort. As the
experience with DataHand products increases, the overall comfort becomes better. This suggests that user manuals and sales training materials should emphasize the fact that
DataHand's comfort gets even better over time. Product Attribute 2: Ease of use 
DataHand was considered easy to use by over 75% of those in the survey. This result might mitigate prospective purchase
concerns at initial exposure to the product. 
The model type and time of use did not significantly impact the perceived ease of use of the DataHand products.
Insights to the "No" answers:
Product Attribute 3: Productivity 
Productivity increase was reported by over 60% of DataHand users. Although productivity was not rated highly as a reason for purchase, this benefit will broaden DataHand's overall market appeal and could foster a new positioning strategy for the products. 
Insights to the "No" answers:
The health and physical attributes suggest that the expectations of the DataHand users in terms of health and physical
claims were, indeed, met. 
DataHand users reported they do not tire as easily...over 90% reported DataHand reduced fatigue. 
About 94% of DataHand users reported that DataHand reduced stress on their wrists and 97% found DataHand to reduce
overall discomfort.  
About 60% reported that without DataHand, they would not be able to work. This is a compelling "story" for DataHand to
tell. It is a product with an "enabling" attribute, giving workers a way to continue being productive members in the workplace.
DataHand users note the greater comfort experienced when using DataHand. 84% report it is more comfortable as the day
progresses than a standard keyboard and almost half (48%) rate DataHand as more or much more comfortable than a standard keyboard. Nearly half (45%) report DataHand as their option
when a standard keyboard, for comfort reasons, cannot be used. 
In terms of productivity, 61% of DataHand users report an improvement in productivity compared to a standard
keyboard. 
Over 61% thought DataHand improved their productivity as the day progressed, compared to the standard
keyboard. 
Methodology
Users of DH 200: (Note: This model was discontinued and replaced by the Professional II model.)
Users of Professional II :
Users of DataHand (model not specified):
The data collection method used for this customer satisfaction study was telephone survey research. This method and the survey instrument utilized were deemed to provide a quick, inexpensive, efficient and accurate means of assessing information about DataHand consumers. Specifically, the survey relied on computer-assisted telephone interviewing methodology. In order to reduce potential risks of interviewer bias, the data collection was performed by Behavior Research, a professional telephone interviewing company. Survey design The survey was designed with the core objectives in mind. First, a set of questions aimed at measuring the overall and comparative level of customer satisfaction with the DataHand products. Second, several questions were designed to assess DataHand's health claims and benefits. Finally, a set of open-ended questions was developed to determine areas for product or quality improvement. Demographic information (age, gender, title) was also included in the survey as a means of helping plan future market segmentation strategies. Since the objectives were to determine consumer attitudes towards and satisfaction with the DataHand products, both current users and non-users of the DataHand product were surveyed. The final sample included 31 current users and 2 non-users of DataHand products. The variety of genders, job titles, and companies covered by the sample attests of its representativeness of the overall population of DataHand users. Hence, the results of this survey can be extended to the overall population of DataHand users. Non-users
The sample included 2 non current users. In both cases, the reasons for initially purchasing Datahand were different than
for the current users. In the first case, the respondent was from an evaluation group which had purchased DataHand to sell to its clients. In the second case, the respondent had
purchased it for his child but said that his child couldn't not use the DataHand for kids. When asked what DataHand could do or could have done to change your experience with their
product, the only comment was that the keys have a tendency to stick and that it takes longer to learn than other keyboards. These non-users had many positive comments about the
product, the customer service, and the healthy financial situation of the company. In terms of improvements, they suggested that the system be lower profile, and thinner, that a
thumb switch be added and that an instructional manual would help. Overall, the comments gathered from the non-users were not significantly different from the current users.
However, this information is only reported here and was not included in the analysis section. 
The users surveyed were relatively young...about 45% were less than 40 years old. 
The users surveyed were mostly male...nearly 2/3 were men. 
The survey represented the views of fairly heavy users...Almost 40% were programmers and 12% used DataHand for word processing (Writers, Publishers, Secretarial). How long have you been using DataHand? 
Users surveyed were fairly new to DataHand...about 2/3 had been using DataHand for less than a year...of these, about 20%
less than 3 months. 
"Light" (5 hours or less) and "Heavy" ( 6-9 hours) users were about evenly represented...17% could be considered
"Intense" (+10 hours) users. 
About half of the users reported they also use another keyboard 
About 40% have used another ergonomic keyboard...Microsoft products were the most frequently mentioned. Here are the other ergonomic keyboards mentioned (frequency):
Miscellaneous
The complete list of respondents, with all information concerning their points of contact, can be found in the Appendix
at the end of this report. 
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