I caught an article on Fast Company today about a recent IBM study with over 1,500 CEOs from across 60 countries and 33 industries.  While the article leads with how creativity is considered a key leadership quality, I thought the more interesting takeaway was that "getting closer to the customer" is a top business strategy and area of focus for these CEOs over the next 5 years.  In fact, 88% of the CEOs surveyed said this was a key area of focus, followed shortly thereafter by 76% saying that "insight and intelligence" is also a key area.

At first glance, this seems like great news for those of us in marketing research and consumer insights.  Without having seen the study itself, I wonder what has caused this shift and how this matches up with previous research on the topic.  One guess might be that the recession has forced many leaders to focus even more on loyalty and satisfaction among existing customers.  Increased interest in customer-driven innovation and the potential for competitive advantage through this type of innovation might also be a factor in play here.  Or maybe the intense interest in social media is making some realize that the ability to draw customers closer than ever before (in brand new ways) is now attainable.  Either way, I'm excited to see how this will play out over the next few years, and whether it will help research and insights folks finally get their coveted "seat at the table."

What do you think?  What factors could be prompting this increased focus?

I read a very compelling (and exhausting) discussion thread on LinkedIn about the skills required to "discover new consumer insights." (Note: you may have be to be a member of the consumer insights group)

The opinions were very interesting, and I do agree with the premise that there is a certain amount of skill and technique when it comes to uncovering consumer insights (open-mindedness, creativity, empathy, curiosity, appreciation of history, ability to connect the dots, etc.). There was a great quote on how best to start the insight process that said you should...  "throw a net and start a sifting process"

I realized that communities can be this "net." They provide researchers with a resource that encourages a variety of conversations (from researcher to customer, customer to customer, and researcher to researcher).  I think through all of this collaboration, experimentation, and chatter, researchers are in a much better position to spot actual insights (and use their skills!).

Let's face it, qualitative research is not always an exact science, but communities put us in the best position to be able to spot an insight, and build on it. We would all like to believe that simply listening to customers results in an idea, but many times it is the conversations we have about these customers, or the thoughts that occur when we take the time to connect that dots that are the true pathway to the idea.

-Ben

I just arrived back in the office from a day-long meeting with a client about the first set of findings from their online research community. The goal of the meeting was to present the initial set of community findings, understand what they mean for their organization and brainstorm ways to dig deeper in future months based on the feedback.

While marathon meetings like this can be a bit exhausting, it’s worth it when you hear stakeholders across all areas of the company (e.g., marketing, product development, customer satisfaction, etc…) react to the findings and realize that they now have this extremely valuable ongoing research community that can be used to gather insights much more efficiently and effectively than before…

What struck me as particularly interesting was a comment that came out in one of the early meetings. It was a comment made as we were providing some background on the community and what it was designed to do for their company. In this meeting a member of their core team drew the comparison of the research community to a “focus group on steroids.” I think that’s a great metaphor for an online research community, and here’s why…

Why this metaphor works

Here are some reasons why “a focus group on steroids” is a great way to think about an online research community…

• It draws on an existing schema - First, it uses an existing schema/concept (focus groups) that people know well, and applies it to a brand new methodology that can be tricky to immediately comprehend for anyone outside of a market research or consumer insights capacity.
• It sounds less “risky” - Similar to the above, a focus group is something that people know and are comfortable with. That increases their likelihood of accepting the findings as something that are valid and worth paying attention to.
• It sets the stage for the qualitative findings - It clearly identifies a research community as a qualitative research methodology designed to understand the “why” and “how,” and helps people understand that the community findings cannot be projected to a wider audience.
• It succinctly describes a benefit of an online research community - The “steroids” aspect clearly indicates that an online research community is superior to a focus group in many ways. This association can be made both in terms of quantity of feedback (which is almost always true of a research community) and quality (which is generally true, although focus groups can also generate valuable research insights in their own right).
• It’s memorable - It’s easy to remember and just “sticks” once you hear it. That’s a good thing when you’re hoping to draw attention to the availability of a research community across your company.

What does this mean for you?

Are you a researcher or consumer insights specialist who is having trouble “selling” the idea of an online research community internally? This might be a good metaphor to use to help convince your stakeholders that this is something worth pursuing. Of course, you can always elaborate on the metaphor by sharing some of the benefits of online research communities we share on this site.

Has this worked for you?

What do you think? Does this metaphor make sense? Have you used other analogies to help people quickly realize what a research community is and how valuable it can be? Feel free to leave a comment with other suggestions!