Research Tidbits

What insights leaders want

I recently had the opportunity to moderate a roundtable discussion on behalf of Ignite 360 that included insights leaders from some of the largest companies in the U.S.: Elizabeth Oates, Sr. Director, Consumer Insights at Ulta Beauty; Humayun Rashid, Director, Microsoft 365 Research & Insights; and Marlene Straszewski, former Senior Director, Consumer Insights at General Mills; along with Rob Volpe and Lisa Osborne from Ignite 360.

It was a wide-ranging conversation, covering their thoughts on how things are changing in the insights field, as well as how research agency partners can provide value to companies like theirs and more.   

One thing that has stuck in my mind from the discussion: the desire to truly understand research participants as human beings.

  • “What I would say is different today versus maybe five years ago is really shifting from thinking about a respondent or a consumer… to be talking more about people, and humans, and talking about how can we solve real human problems.” – Marlene Straszewski
  • “We find that building platforms and building things where the stakeholders are forced in some ways to participate… where the distance between the respondents and the stakeholders is becoming closer and closer and closer so that they are more in tune with those consumer user needs.” – Humayun Rashid
  • “Recently, someone asked me ‘what is gen pop’ – that’s a great question, what does that mean…   we’re looking at lots of different types of people… how do we understand people as they see themselves?” – Elizabeth Oates

I think that’s an important point that sometimes gets forgotten when we conduct market research.  Beyond asking participants specific questions about our product or service, we need to ensure we have a deep understanding of the context: customers’ lives and how our product or service fits in.

During our roundtable, Marlene, Elizabeth and Humayan also talked about:

  • The importance of considering diversity in our target audiences, not just because it’s the right thing to do – it’s also good for business
  • The value of conducting in-person research.  While they appreciate the convenience of remote research, our roundtable agreed that some of their most memorable insights came out of in-person research
  • What they want from research agency partners is flexibility, the ability to bring new thinking and “learn from the past and adapt to the new and the now”

Those are just the highlights; you can watch the whole discussion here.  And let’s talk about the best ways to learn from your customers. Email me at info at bureauwest.com.

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

Are customers returning to normal?

My friend and colleague Rob Volpe gave a fascinating presentation at the Quirk’s Event last month.  He talked about research his company has been conducting and the fact that 72% of people are saying they DON’T want life to go back to exactly the way it was before.

So how do we marketers figure out what our customers will want as we emerge from the pandemic?  Rob recommends a “Recognize-Reimagine-Respond” approach, as follows:

Recognize

  • Understand that customers may have different needs
  • The role your brand played in the past may not be as relevant to all the same people, but there may be new prospects

Reimagine

  • Now is the time to consider scenario planning or “war games”
  • Examine the benefits, needs or JTBD is your brand is serving
  • Re-evaluate existing segmentations, journey and innovation maps

Respond

  • Build new plans based on scenarios and “rapid response” tactics
  • Get re-acquainted with your consumer and their psychology
  • Expect swings in behavior until new equilibrium is attained

Let’s talk about how your customers and prospects are changing and where the opportunities lie.  Shoot me an email: info at bureauwest.com.

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

New macro trend: gratitude

Remember how the authenticity trend started in the 90s?  Farmers markets were starting to spring up in urban locations.  How things were made began to take on more importance to consumers.  Eventually, authenticity became a macro trend in marketing that has been around for over 20 years.

My friends at Ignite 360 looked at the data from their Navigating to a New Normal research (ongoing quant and qual research), and saw a new macro trend emerging: a focus on gratitude.  A clear majority of participants want to see change in their lives when the events of 2020 come to a close.  Appreciating what they have was most frequently cited by those seeking change.  They are looking for quality over quantity.  This macro trend is going to have an impact on how people spend their time and money. 

The new trend has immediate implications for how companies communicate with their customers and prospects and longer-term implications for the development of products, pricing, even business models.  Read more about the findings here.

Can I help you figure out how this trend impacts your customers and prospects?  Let’s discuss!  Shoot me an email: info at bureauwest.com.

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

I facilitated a 6-hour Zoom session – and lived to tell the tale!

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/yelling-formal-man-watching-news-on-laptop-3760778/

Obviously, we’ve all been doing a lot of Zoom calls lately.  I’ve heard the term “Zoom fatigue” about how tiring those calls can be.  But I’ve wondered if they’re any more tiring than the in-person meetings we used to do.  I got an opportunity to contrast and compare: last year, I did a full-day in-person strategy session with a client (well, 6 hours, from 10am to 4pm).  This year, the same client needed to do another 6-hour session, but (of course) on Zoom.

It was indeed tiring, but there was an upside: when we took breaks, we were all in our own homes, so we got to take a true break, rather than just getting up and getting a cup of coffee with the other participants. 

Also, I had a few tricks up my sleeve and I was able to get some tips from my colleague Eric Snyder at Ignite 360, who had just done a full-day workshop with another client.  And it worked!  Everyone remained engaged throughout the day and we were able to get results!  (Though I will admit to being dead tired when it was done.)

Here are my tips for surviving a 6-hour Zoom session:

  • I scheduled a 15-minute coffee break in the morning, a 30-minute lunch and another 15-minute coffee break mid-afternoon – and I stuck to that schedule (politely cutting people off – it’s an art!).  So people didn’t have to go longer than an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half between breaks.
  • We did a few fun things throughout the day.  We sent some cookies and snacks to all the participants in advance which I encouraged the people to have during the coffee breaks and talk about which treats they liked best.  And rather than doing regular introductions, I had everyone send me the information about what they do at the organization, but also a little known fact about themselves and one or two photos of them doing something fun or unexpected.  I put them in a PowerPoint deck and used them as “palate cleansers” between topics.  I would first just show the little known fact and ask participants to guess who it was, and then revealed the person and their photos.  It really served to break up the day and lighten the mood.
  • Here’s something I didn’t do, but Eric has done with great results: offer small prizes for things like the first person to answer a certain question.  It could be as small as a $5 Starbucks card, but people love the competition!

In addition, I discovered some helpful points about how to best utilize Zoom’s features… and handle its shortcomings:

  • I knew it would be important for everyone to see each other speaking, so I asked them in advance to all use a computer and not a tablet (which only lets you view 9 participants at a time – we had 12) and definitely not a mobile phone.  And I made sure everyone was in Gallery Mode (or as I put it, “It should look like Hollywood Squares, where we are all in rectangles of the same size”).
  • I consider the chat panel an added bonus when compared to in-person discussions.  If someone has something to add to what a person is saying at that moment, they can type it in the chat panel, rather than interrupting.   Also, having two types of input – the voice of the person speaking and the text in the chat panel – actually helps people stay more engaged.  When you just listen to a person speaking, your attention is more likely to wander.
  • One of the drawbacks of Zoom is that when two people start talking at the same time, it takes a few seconds to realize that, and neither can be heard.  But the silver lining: it forces a more orderly discussion.  I had people raise their hands to indicate they wanted to speak next and I confirmed in the chat panel (e.g., “Next: Barbara”).  And when two people did start talking at once, I just had to play traffic cop and say something like “OK, Mary, you go ahead, and then David.”
  • We were planning to work together on crafting a vision statement and I had intended to share my screen so we could all agree on the text.  But I realized that participants wouldn’t be able to see each other that clearly while screen sharing.  Instead, I typed the suggested text in the chat panel, as well as subsequent revisions, until we had a version everyone agreed on.  (Note: that would be a good time to click the “save chat” link in Zoom!)

Let’s talk about the best approach to find the answer to your strategic questions. Call me at 760-469-9266 or email info at bureauwest.com.

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman