THE NEED
GAP
2026
8 in 10 analyzed needs did not demonstrate enough relevance to become strategic priorities.
The Need Gap 2026 analyzed 1,423 needs across 59 companies. The findings show why discovery and validation of relevance are different steps.
8 in every 10 mapped needs do not become a priority even for 30% of customers.
The study shows that the challenge is not finding needs, but distinguishing which ones have enough relevance to guide decisions capable of generating and capturing value.
There is an abundance of needs and a scarcity of shared relevance.
This is not opinion.
It is measured, real-world prioritization.
A study conducted by the George Eich Institute using its own research base, examining how needs identified directly with customers behave when subjected to a real prioritization exercise.
80.32%
of the analyzed needs do not become a priority even for 30% of the customer base.
The needs are real and emerged from listening directly to customers. Even so, most remain concentrated in smaller portions of the customer base. The strategic challenge begins when the company must distinguish which of these needs justify a broad decision and which belong to specific groups.
45.33% of the mapped needs do not show sufficient significance when volume and level of fulfillment are combined, to advance into the model’s strategic classifications.
They may still be relevant to specific customers or groups. The data show that the existence of a need alone does not provide enough evidence to guide a strategic decision.
37.1% of the needs identified with customers received no selections when those same participants, together with an expanded customer base, were asked to prioritize.
A customer can reveal a need and then stop choosing it when forced to decide what matters most.
Only 7.38% of the needs are a priority for at least half of the customer base.
Approximately 1 in every 14 needs. What appears to be a priority for one group of customers is rarely a consensus across the rest.
The more shared relevance we require,
the fewer needs remain.
The 80% threshold is reserved for interviews.
Only 1 in every 27 needs meets the conditions used by the model to guide positioning.
Finding a real need is much easier than finding a need capable of supporting a relevant market position.
What to sustain,
what to create.
How many needs are both broadly prioritized and well fulfilled by the company?
How many combine market relevance with a Need Gap large enough to justify innovation?
The complete figures change substantially as the required level of consensus increases. Reserved for interviews.
The capacity to build
has grown. The capacity to prioritize has not.
Companies are increasing their capacity to build, test, and automate. That makes the quality of prioritization even more important: every solution created makes the company more complex and more expensive to sustain. The challenge is not only creating, but sustaining what has been created, even when it is the wrong thing. The result is low adoption of delivered solutions.
Many needs are real. Few have enough shared relevance to justify broad decisions.
The question stops being only “did the customer ask for it?” and becomes “for how many customers does this truly matter, and can we create and capture more value?”
Accelerating execution does not solve the problem of selecting the right need.
“Building is getting easier. Knowing what deserves to be built remains difficult.”
The study analyzes 1,423 needs across 59 companies, based on 1,462 participants representing 1,309 customer companies. Data were collected between the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2026.
The unit of analysis is a need within the context of a company. The 1,423 observations do not necessarily represent 1,423 semantically unique needs in the market.
Needs are initially identified through a qualitative stage with customers. Each company then selects a set for quantitative validation, averaging 25 needs. Participants from the qualitative stage take part again, and the customer base is expanded. Customers are asked to indicate which needs are priorities at that moment. Participants are instructed to concentrate their selection on approximately five priorities, although they may select more.
Priority is self-declared by the customer at the time of the research, not inferred from usage behavior, revenue or purchase decisions. The volume percentage represents the share of participants who prioritized each need. In this research design, the fulfillment level measured by ICAN was evaluated among participants who selected the need as a priority.
George Eich Institute. (2026). The Need Gap 2026: The Challenge of Prioritizing What Truly Matters to Customers. Available at georgeeich.com/the-need-gap-2026
One study,
multiple angles.
"8 in every 10 mapped needs do not become a priority even for 30% of customers, study finds.”
“Finding the right problem may be the rarest and most complex part of the innovation process.”
“AI accelerates the capacity to build, but the data show the complexity of deciding what deserves to be built.”
"Apenas 1 in every 27 mapped needs shows positioning potential.”
“Only 7.38% of the needs become a priority for at least half of customers.”
“The study indicates that analyzing ICPs through shared needs is one path to strengthen growth and solution adoption.”
Exclusive data available
for your story.
The study includes additional cuts on innovation and leverage potential, Core Business, positioning, Need-Based ICP, B2B versus B2C comparisons, and implications for 2027 planning. George Eich is available to present the complete data, methodology, and unpublished analyses.
Schedule an interview
What could these findings change in your next decision?
The study shows the aggregate behavior of 1,423 needs. The Strategic Prioritization Study brings the same evidence-first principle to a specific decision in your company.
“Before expanding resources, discover what your own customer base reveals about the decision at hand.”
I want to apply the study in my companyThe public finding frames the question. Investigating your own base or ICP produces evidence about your company’s decision.