What drives customers to choose a product-as-a-service over a traditional product (purchased as a capital expenditure).

Designing a product to have a take-back program. Pro-active design, design for recycling.

Old and New Products-as-a-Service:

• City car programs
• Cite bike programs
• Leasing copiers
  
• Carrying a handkerchief
• Staging furniture for selling a home
  

How do you incentivise?

• Products are social - people imitate others. Need to make the product attractive and socially acceptable - e.g. snazzy water bottles for tap water
• Get peoples' kids to hold them to task concerning the environmental impact of their actions - "Daddy - you should recycle that!"
• Get beyond the factor of ownership as a status - ephemerality is also a status. E.g., laundry service vs. owning a washing machine
• Present the full cost to the buyer - total cost of ownership
  

Resources

Book: MicroISV
author is the founder of the company Balsamiq