Michael Jansen – Zehnder

In an insightful conversation with Michael Jansen, Head of Marketing Ventilation Solutions at Zehnder, we explore how this leading brand of ventilation solutions is navigating the challenges of an evolving market. Zehnder is a company known for creating innovative systems that ensure healthy indoor air quality, focusing on customer-centric innovation and digitalisation to stay ahead.

In this interview, Michael defines the importance of raising awareness about indoor climate health, the role of digital integration in their products, and how market research drives more effective and targeted innovations.

Market challenges and trends

The construction and ventilation markets are facing significant challenges, from regulatory variations across Europe to a slowdown in new construction due to economic factors like rising interest rates and material shortages. On the other hand, there is an increased focus on transforming existing homes, moving from the current state to a more energy-efficient state, making homes better insulated, and reducing their footprint and energy consumption.

“Zehnder has a strong position in new construction, where ventilation systems are often required by building regulations. However, these solutions do not automatically fit applications in present homes where each home has unique characteristics and ventilation challenges,” Michael says.

Despite these obstacles, the push toward energy-efficient homes and the transformation of existing buildings present new opportunities. As each building method requires different solutions, Zehnder is making a huge leap to gain insight into other types of houses and the challenges they present. The company then adapts to these insights to improve the energy efficiency of older homes. This not only addresses housing shortages but also aligns with the growing demand for sustainable solutions in the residential sector.

Promoting a Healthy Indoor Climate

A key element of Zehnder’s strategy is raising awareness about the importance of indoor air quality. “While many consumers focus on external health factors like diet and exercise, the quality of the air they breathe is often overlooked,” Michael points out.

Therefore, Zehnder aims to position itself as a leader in providing ventilation solutions that contribute to a healthier and more comfortable indoor environment. “We are increasingly working on programmes to raise the relevance of a healthy indoor climate, health, and comfort. By promoting the long-term benefits of proper ventilation—such as improved sleep, concentration, and overall well-being—we are changing the conversation about what it means to create a healthy home.”

“By promoting the long-term benefits of proper ventilation—such as improved sleep, concentration, and overall well-being—we are changing the conversation about what it means to create a healthy home.”

Customer-Centric Innovation

Innovation at Zehnder has also evolved from a purely technology-driven approach to a more customer-centric approach. Rather than simply integrating new technologies into products, the company now starts with customer pain points and designs solutions that address these challenges. “Ultimately, the consumers are the end users of our solutions,” Michael points out. Therefore, the focus for him as a marketeer is not so much on the technical elements of the devices, but rather on the end value for the consumer, which is a healthy and comfortable indoor climate.

“Ideally, an assortment has a vision behind it, structured around on specific benefits, or clusters of benefits, for clusters of applications and use-cases So, product-market combinations. The danger of product-centric innovation is that you ignore what is really relevant to the customer or user.

Therefore, Michael suggests reversing the innovation process by first looking at the customer’s pain points and challenges and then formulating a solution concept that addresses these. “In this way, you’re much more customer-focused, which is more effective and efficient, as you start making choices,” he highlights. By focusing on what customers need, Zehnder ensures its innovations are relevant, effective, and capable of driving brand growth. This shift also helps streamline product development, focusing resources on solutions that truly resonate with the market.

‘The danger of product-centric innovation is that you ignore what is really relevant to the customer or user.”

Driving Innovation Through Digitalisation and Smart Integration

Digitalisation is also playing an increasingly important role in Zehnder’s innovation strategy. The company is exploring ways to integrate its ventilation systems with smart home technologies to provide more intelligent indoor climate management. This focus on digital solutions not only enhances the functionality of Zehnder’s products but also positions the brand at the forefront of the smart home movement, ensuring it remains competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

The importance of market research and insights

To gather market and consumer insights, Zehnder uses various sources of market research and trend analysis; “We get a lot of reports from different places about the European construction and installation markets, and we also speak a lot, especially with our commercial affiliations in the various countries.”

Market research tools, such as concept validation, are also being used to see if there is an initial need for a specific product. An example that Michael brings up is Zehnder’s indoor quality sensor which concept was tested while it was under development but hadn’t yet completed its full development phase.

Interestingly, it turned out that it was mainly people who didn’t have a ventilation system and were just beginning to realise the importance of indoor air quality which was the largest interest group. This helped Zehnder to conceptually think about which customer group it wanted to target.

“When you look at ventilation solutions, you have simple to very complex ones. To explain the differences between them we identify various “Ventilation Maturity stages”. Awareness of indoor air pollutants, requiring sufficient ventilation, is right at the beginning of that journey; “An indoor air quality sensor has an important role in raising awareness and discovering the value of indoor air quality among those who are at the very start of that journey. So it helped us a lot to fine-tune the product and also to determine the target group.”

Eventually, with external help, Michael and his team set up a campaign, a website, and a webshop, where they can measure, track, adapt, and learn to take the first steps into the consumer world with a consumer product in a traditional B2B setting—a challenging process.

“That’s the benefit of testing concepts externally—what might have been just a gut feeling is now backed by research, giving you stronger confidence to make decisions based on real validation instead of assumptions.”