Every business has customers, but how well they know their customers is another question. In a recent Harvard Business Review blog, Peter Merholz explains that many large companies lose that vital interaction with their customers as their business begins to grow.
“Business cannot exist without customers, so it’s sadly ironic that many, if not most, businesses, actually understand so little about them,” says Merholz. “In order to become customer experience-driven, you need to go beyond who your customers are, and understand what they do.”
While it may feel tempting to place your customers into simple, definable categories, Merholz urges companies to dig deeper and understand their customers as real people living in a messy, complicated world. What does that mean for your company? It means going beyond the high-level data and seeking to understand and appreciate your customer’s behavior and true motivation.
Trending
Do customers want to ‘hire’ your product?
Through SIVO On Demand Talent or with SIVO custom qualitative research, our clients uncover the underlying motivations behind their customer’s unique behavior. With SIVO On Demand Talent, we have storytellers who mine existing research to bring our clients’ customers to life. And, we ensure the next phase of research fills a customer knowledge gap, extending our clients’ research budgets. With SIVO custom research, our clients tap into valuable customer insights through approaches like In-Store Intercepts, Shop-Alongs, and Ethnographic research, to gain clear, in-depth analysis of their customer in the context of their daily lives.
How well do you know your customer? Maybe it’s time to take a deeper look…
Contact us at Contact@SIVOInsights.com for more information and next steps.
As your company is developing and promoting their products and services, it is critical to understand your consumers’ attitudes and behavior to grow the business.
Understanding your consumers require specialized professionals who have the proven market researchtools and best practices. They use a combination of art and scientific methods to gather data regarding consumers’ attitudes, needs, desires and behaviors. So, how do they gather this relevant and meaningful information about the individuals they are seeking to reach and understand more deeply? The answer is Market Research.
Connecting with your consumers and understanding their opinions, needs byutilizing a market research-driven approach can make all the difference in identifying opportunities to build a successful business.
According to Forbes, “Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) is just a fancy term for making intelligent decisions based on what your data is telling you. Modern market research combines DDDM with advanced technology to uncover even more granular data, which can be used to personalize market messaging and find potential areas for growth. Traditionally, market research encompasses four major disciplines: primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative.”
Primary research gathers first-hand data from consumers. It gives brand teams direct feedback on their services or products from those who are familiar with it or use it. The results are considered conclusive when the data is collected from a representative sample of consumers. Secondary research is when your sources of feedback come from other researchers or second-hand information. This type of market research provides consumer insights by studying trade journal articles, social media conversations, government agency data and published market studies and applying the information to inform business decisions and guide strategies. Together, primary and secondary research can provide more comprehensive and meaningful consumer insights.
Primary research is comprised of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research, which is often exploratory in nature. It captures the in-depth nuances of what consumers say, do, and think by collecting non-numerical data. This could be done through ethnographies, in-depth interviews, focus groups, shopper intercepts, and mobile missions to gather insights that help solve a problem or help you understand your consumers better. Qualitative methodologies focus on obtaining smaller sample sizes so more time can be spent with each consumer. It focuses on the “why” behind consumer opinions, beliefs and behaviors.
Quantitative research is centered on identifying, benchmarking, prioritizing, validating, and translating data into insights that reveal opportunities. Typically, data is collected via online surveys. Quantitative methodologies focus on obtaining larger sample sizes that allow for a higher degree of statistical reliability. This type of research deals with applying statistical analytics to numerical datasets for many business objectives, such as building consumer segmentations, assessing product appeal, understanding the attitude toward and usage of products and services, and mapping consumers’ path-to-purchase journeys.
Both of these research approaches can provide excellent results. It is important to choose the approach that best addresses the business objectives, while taking timing, cost and level of business risk into account.
While primary research provides useful feedback on consumer attitudes and behaviors that can be utilized for developing marketing strategies, there are additional research methods that businesses can leverage to offer teams a holistic view of the consumer.
Brand Sentiment Analysis
Knowing how your brand is perceived by consumers and potential consumers can help you understand the impact of your marketing efforts. . A few factors to look at are consumer awareness, loyalty, advocacy, and value, . Social media monitoring tools are great assets when it comes to measuring consumer sentiment. Studying social media conversations and metrics allow team to identify insights and translate them into actionable strategies. This is a great way to gather unfiltered consumer feedback on your brand.
Understanding your brand sentiment also means knowing how your brand is perceived versus key competitors. It requires selecting the right web conversations to track consumer sentiment for your brand and the competitive brands, to understand strengths, weaknesses, potential threats and opportunities to better compete.
Competitive Intelligence
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration,
“Competitive analysis helps you learn from businesses competing for your potential customers. This is key to defining a competitive edge that creates sustainable revenue. Your competitive analysis should identify your competition by product line or service and market segment.”
Competitive intelligence can support your brand in creating or optimizing marketing campaigns and strategies such as advertising, pricing, and product development and placement. Consider gathering competitive intelligence to get clear on your level of competition and proactively develop relevant actions to compete effectively.
Customer Segmentation
Consumer segmentation is an excellent way to classify customers into specific groups based on their shared characteristics. From here, you can refine your messaging, sales tactics, voice, and tone to connect with these segments of people who are most likely to respond positively to your strategies. This effective approach involves categorizing consumers into different segments, based on their demographics, geographics, behaviors, and psychographics.
The benefit of this market research analytic technique is that consumer segmentation helps businesses devise comprehensive strategies that can help brands attract new customers, retain existing ones, and create brand loyalty across the consumer base.
How Your Business Can Stay Competitive
With technology rapidly increasing and new products and services entering the market daily, it can feel like an uphill battle to stay ahead of the competition. This is why utilizing SIVO’s consumer insight and market intelligence solutions are some of the best decisions you can make for your business. At SIVO, we help you better understand your customers, differentiate from the competition, and develop consistent, consumer-centric products and services by providing your team with actionable insights.
We do this by analyzing market research data that reveals consumer attitudes and behaviors.. This information is turned into actionable insights that result in satisfied consumers, thus higher salesand incremental growth. SIVO will:
SIVO has worked with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to understand their most essential needs. We then design and execute best-in-class custom market research aligned with your business objectives.
Trust SIVO to Help You Better Understand Your Consumer’s Behavior
SIVO will help you drive your business forward with consumer insights, organizational intelligence, market and competitive intelligence, or on demand talent solutions.
Contact SIVO today to schedule your discovery call.
By Julie Rose
Whether in need of C-Suite leadership, mid-level managers or junior-level analysts, many companies are turning to fractional talent to fill temporarily open roles, expand their team bandwidth or bring new or specialized skillsets to meet business needs. SIVO, Inc. has worked with many companies to place fractional Consumer Insights Professionals (fCIPs) across all levels of the Insights function. Through this work, we have established a few guidelines for a positive outcome to make your outsourcing experiences successful.
To prepare for the fCIP to join your team and set everyone up for success, you should:
Clearly Outline Your Fractional Talent Needs
It is important to be clear on the work that requires the expertise of fractional insights professionals. We’ve helped our best clients with this critical first step and it has had a huge impact on their ability to get the help they need.
Each quarter, I outline the prioritized initiatives for my team and in that process, I identify the critical work for my SIVO On Demand Talent resource. This practice provides both clear direction for the fractional talent and it also helps me estimate the hours needed and budget appropriately. Continually getting clear on priorities has led to a successful outcome for both Perdue and SIVO.
– Tara Campbell, Sr. Director, Insights, Analytics & Sensory, Perdue Farms
For one week, you should log all the work that you wish you had someone available to delegate to. When something comes up that you think, “wow, if only I had a resource to help,” write down the task and the skills you believe are needed. At the end of the week, you are well-equipped for a scope of work plan that can be short-term, long-term, for a fill-in role or a finite project. Your log of the work that needs to get done will help you identify a fCIP with the appropriate skillset to accomplish the work effectively and efficiently.
Interview Candidates
Once you are clear on what you are looking for in terms of skills, expertise, and know-how, it is a good idea to interview 2 to 3 candidates for the temporary role. It may seem like “overkill” when the role is temporary but in the end, finding a person that fits your team will make your work-life a lot easier. This is an opportunity to evaluate organizational fit, establish rapport and set expectations. During the interview, you will ask about previous experience the candidates will bring to the role, what expectations the candidates have, and gauge how the candidates will approach your specific role.
We looked at resumes for a few candidates for the role we had on our team. On paper, all three looked equally suited to the role however after interviewing the candidates we realized the best cultural fit with our team and organization. I appreciated the opportunity SIVO provided to meet with more than one candidate for the role.
– Marnie Pfeifer, VP Customer Experience Leader
Set Up Regular Updates
Once you’ve chosen the fCIP for your role, it’s important to establish a clear work plan and a good working relationship. Through regular check-ins and updates, you will be able to align on objectives, stay informed on progress, and understand any barriers that might need to be addressed. Regular updates allow the insights professional to meet smaller deadlines throughout the project while keeping the overall timeline and success metrics front and center.
Provide Timely Feedback
The regular updates will also facilitate the ability to provide timely feedback throughout the project. It is critical to invest some of your time to monitor progress and be actively engaged in the work of your new resource. This professional comes with experience and expertise, but may need guidance to navigate the organization, such as recognizing unwritten rules or norms that are tied to the organizational culture. There might be a need to provide constructive feedback, that if given early, will set the fCIP up for success. Feedback will provide clarity and optimize the experience for both parties – you and your contract talent.
Show Appreciation
Once you’ve built a good working relationship with your fCIP, you will likely want to tap into this resource again in the future, when the need arises. Providing positive feedback and showing appreciation for the contributions this person is making to your organization will increase satisfaction in doing the current role and increase the likelihood of taking on future assignments. Appreciation can be shown with a simple thank you or by recommending this talent to others in the industry who may also need this type of resource.
Following these steps will help you find the right fCIP and make the entire process easier for you and your team.
For fractional Consumer Insights Professionals, you can lean on SIVO’s On Demand Talent team to walk you through the process and provide you with the support you need to get the right talent working on your behalf. We are passionate about matching our clients’ needs with our fCIP’s experience and skills.
Reach out today to learn more about SIVO On Demand Talent. Contact@SIVOInsights.com
By Natasha Weith
As someone who’s passionate about the power of insights to drive business growth, I was thrilled to host our recent SIVO Insights Forum, “Bridging the Gap: Translating Insights Into Meaningful Business Results.” It was an inspiring conversation with some of the best minds in the insights industry, and I’m excited to share the experience with you.
At SIVO, we believe consumer and marketplace insights are the foundation for business growth. But let’s be honest, while all insights professionals understand this, turning those insights into actionable business strategies can be a real challenge. That’s exactly why we brought together this incredible panel of leaders to share their expertise and experiences.
I had the honor of facilitating this discussion with:
• Eliana Wahnon (VP of Consumer & Market Insights, General Mills)
• Khary Campbell (VP of Consumer Research & Insights, Comcast)
• Elizabeth Oates (Book Author, Former VP of Consumer Insights, Ulta Beauty)
Together, we explored how to bridge the gap between data and meaningful outcomes. Whether you watch the session on-demand (linked here) or continue reading for some highlights, I think you’ll find this forum both interesting and actionable.
Aligning Market Research with Business Priorities
In a world filled with data, the ability to convert that data into actionable insights sets successful businesses apart from the rest. Insights professionals must not only translate data into insights, but also deliver those insights in a way that inspires ideas and guides business strategies.
Insights teams need to be strategic about where they focus their time and resources. More specifically, it is vital to align research projects with business priorities. Elizabeth Oates posed these questions to consider during The SIVO Insights Forum:
Navigating through the business questions and issues that arise and honing in on those with the highest business priority offers the greatest chance of making a meaningful impact with your research findings.
Navigating Leadership Reluctance
One common challenge that Insights teams face is leadership reluctance to act on the research findings. This hesitation may stem from personal biases or not understanding the potential benefits. Forming alliances with key stakeholders and truly understanding the business from their perspectives will help insights teams address real business needs and inspire colleagues to act. This can take the form of getting early buy-in on research objectives and designs or previewing the findings and recommendations with colleagues to ensure alignment with broader organizational goals.
To this point, Khary Campbell advised insights teams to “be consumer first, but not consumer only,” during our panel discussion. “Consider the research implications to all the functions. After all, every function is working in an orchestra to drive business growth.”
Making a Bigger Impact
Insights teams can expand their influence by highlighting the strategic value of their work. Sharing success stories, aligning insights with organizational goals, and fostering a culture of consumer-driven decision making are crucial steps toward amplifying the impact of insights.
Great storytelling with a clear narrative, executive summary, intuitive visual aids and consumer quotes can simplify complex data and enhance understanding. These tactics ensure that research results will grab attention, persuade, and motivate key stakeholders and drive action.
Eliana Wahnon shared a 3C’s framework for driving impact when reporting research results:
The Evolving Role of Insights
The SIVO Insights Forum also gathered perspectives on the rapidly evolving role of insights professionals, inspired by the advancements in AI and the increasing complexity of consumer behavior. Despite suggestions that automation may replace traditional roles, the leaders in the panel believe insights professionals will remain indispensable for managing AI, distinguishing truth, and uncovering the “why” behind consumer actions. As Eliana Wahnon emphasized, “While AI offers tools to streamline tasks like drafting questionnaires and analyzing unstructured data, it cannot replicate the nuanced understanding of human behavior, or the creative spark needed to inspire ideas.”
Elizabeth Oates underscored the importance of balancing historical insights (the rearview mirror) with a forward-looking perspective (the windshield) to navigate future challenges. The discussion highlighted “scenario thinking” as a vital skill for anticipating multiple possibilities in an uncertain world.
Ultimately, AI is a tool to enhance efficiency and free up time for strategic thinking, but the human role in connecting dots, navigating contradictions, and driving innovation remains irreplaceable. As Khary Campbell noted, “Insights professionals must stay curious and adaptable, leveraging technology while preserving the core skills that drive business impact.”
This balance ensures the field of insights not only survives but thrives, enabling businesses to navigate an ever-changing future with clarity and purpose.
Conclusion & The SIVO Insights Forum
As I reflect on the conversations we had during the SIVO Insights Forum, one thing is clear: insights professionals play such a critical role in shaping decisions that drive growth, via consumer insights, but our real challenge lies in ensuring those insights are acted upon.
The panelists shared so many practical strategies and thought-provoking ideas that I believe can truly help us build trust, credibility, and impact within our organizations. From navigating leadership reluctance to making a bigger organizational impact, these insights resonated with me—and I hope they will with you too.
If you want to dive deeper into these topics, I highly recommend watching The SIVO Insights Forum “Bridging The Gap: Translating Insights Into Meaningful Business Results”. You’ll hear directly from our incredible panelists about:
Let’s keep pushing forward, bridging the gap, and making an even bigger impact together.
About SIVO Insights
SIVO, Inc. is a market research and strategy firm specializing in helping businesses understand people. We partner with world-class brands to answer key questions and identify opportunities that unlock business growth. Our team of insights market research professionals are masters at designing custom research plans, executing with excellence, identifying strategic insights and then helping client teams translate those insights into action. Our On Demand Talent solution places fractional insights experts into client companies to temporarily fill open roles, complete projects or expand team capabilities.
Contact us at Contact@SIVOInsights.com or visit SIVOInsights.com to schedule a Research or On Demand Talent discovery call so we can help you make an impact!
SIVO Insights brings together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence. Have a business challenge? Let's talk!
We bring together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence
