(FORTUNE Magazine) – WHIRLPOOL MANAGERS confronted a dilemma. A comprehensive company survey, conducted two years ago, showed that consumers wanted a cooking range with oven controls that were easy to clean. Whirlpool's engineers proposed using modern electronic touch pads like those you push to turn on a microwave, which can be cleaned with a swipe of the sponge. But the idea of push-button programming flew in the face of industry experience. Earlier models with ordinary push buttons had languished in stores while consumers opted for ovens with knobs they could twist. Rather than discard the survey results, the appliance giant decided to obey consumers' dictates -- to the letter. It designed a range with touch-pad controls, testing user reactions every step of the way. At company headquarters in Benton Harbor, Michigan, consumer volunteers played with computer simulations of the controls; marketers showed prototypes to browsers in malls. The result: a range with a touch pad so simple that you don't need a manual to use it. The consumer can turn on the oven in a simple progression of steps from left to right, punching in first, say, bake, then the temperature, then the time, and finally start. The new ranges hit the stores last year and succeeded where the old push-button designs had failed. They became one of Whirlpool's hottest models. When consumers talk, Whirlpool listens. Each year the company mails its Standardized Appliance Measurement Satisfaction (SAMS) survey to 180,000 households, asking people to rate all their appliances on dozens of attributes. When a competitor's product ranks higher, Whirlpool engineers rip it apart to see why. The company pays hundreds of consumers to fiddle with computer-simulated products at the company's Usability Lab while engineers record the users' reactions on videotape. What consumers want isn't always obvious, says vice president of marketing John Hamann: ''The consumer speaks in code.'' SAMS showed, for instance, that people wanted clean refrigerators. Did this mean fridges that were easy to clean? After analyzing the data and asking more questions, Whirlpool decided most consumers want their refrigerators to look clean with minimum fuss. Its ) latest models have stucco-like fronts and sides that hide fingerprints. Whirlpool has used its consumer expertise to differentiate its products and lure customers from rivals like Maytag and Electrolux. Since 1982 the company has almost tripled in size, partly through acquisitions, to become the world's largest major-appliance manufacturer. Merrill Lynch analyst Jonathan Goldfarb says Whirlpool ''has the proper products for the proper markets.'' CEO David Whitwam is betting that Whirlpool's consumer-research methods will translate into big gains outside the U.S., where appliance sales have more room to grow. Says Whitwam: ''Five years ago we were essentially a domestic company. Today about 40% of our revenues are overseas, and by the latter part of this decade, a majority will be.'' The company has already scored gains, for instance, in selling Europeans on microwave ovens. Until recently, fewer than one-third of European households had them, but research suggested that more people would buy if microwaves performed more like conventional ovens. In late 1991, Whirlpool introduced the VIP Crisp, a model that incorporates a broiler coil for top browning and a unique dish that sizzles the underside of the food. Result: an oven capable of frying bacon and eggs in Britain and crisping pizza crusts in Italy. The Crisp is now Europe's best-selling microwave. The company's surveys also suggest that homemakers from Portugal to Finland have a lot in common, even though appliance makers have long designed separate products for each country. In 1990, Whirlpool launched the industry's first pan-European advertising campaign, built around images of clothes dryers and dishwashers in surreal settings. Coming soon: appliances meant to capitalize on what Whirlpool calls Euro-segments -- homemaker types such as ''traditionalists'' and ''aspirers'' -- that span national borders.

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