Customer visits have several advantages:
I. Helps the new product development team to understand customers better: Direct interaction with customers allows the team to gain deep insights into customer needs, preferences, and pain points.
II. Face-to-face communication provides more than a phone interview: In-person meetings facilitate richer communication, including non-verbal cues and a deeper understanding of customer context.
III. Customer visits are one of the best ways of developing a customer viewpoint in team members who usually don't have much customer contact: It immerses team members in the customer's environment, fostering empathy and a customer-centric mindset.
While interviewer bias (IV) is a potential disadvantage, it does not count as an advantage of customer visits.
References: Ulrich, K. T., & Eppinger, S. D. (2015). Product Design and Development. McGraw-Hill Education.