Market Research Consulting: Realizing Customer Insights

“Okay, so we have all this market research data,” the executive challenged. “What do we do with it? What insights can market research give me that I can really use to drive change in the organization?”

Ever heard this before?

Comments like this, especially after I’d labored long and hard producing a presentation deck, used to really tick me off. My immediate response (in my head) was, hey, you’re the big dog, aren’t you the one who’s supposed to come up with the insights, the a-ha’s? Besides, I can’t implement; only you can, so why should I give you all the great ideas so you can look like a hero and I run back off to my cubicle? (Was I an angry young man? I think you get my drift.)

Eventually I realized that the executive was not complaining about the work I had done; he or she was saying they were drowning in facts, pure information overload, and needed managers like myself to do some of the hard work of finding the information that could truly forward the company’s goals and mission from those that were just nice to know or even that simply helped break through to the critical customer insight(s).

But how to do so? How can market researchers act as market research consultants and move from generating data and findings to spying and championing insights that break new ground for our companies?

The old shibboleth says that success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. I used to do a lot of perspiring with negligible inspiration.

As market researchers we are often best positioned to have the inspirations the executives want and need. Why? We have the base data. And we directly face, hear from and listen to the customers.

But it takes much more than simply absorbing ever increasing amounts of data and information to find customer insights

Customer Insights Through The Market Research Process

“No way!! They don’t care! They’re a [financial institution]! All they want is money. They don’t give a damn about us.”

Anger palpably crackled in the focus group room as respondents vehemently added to this sentiment.

The positioning statement being tested read something to the effect of: [Company] cares! That’s why we found a way to bring you a [product] that………….”

The respondents evaluating the statements went berserk. Some were even offended.

“How dare they say they care?”

“They’re loan sharks!”

The back room went into a state of shock. Everyone observing the groups fell silent. The team building toward a positioning statement for the firm had clearly struck a major nerve with customers, but in the wrong direction, rather than the intended (or hoped-for) response.

The power of a single word had overwhelmed us all. It was clear to everyone on the team that “care” had to go, but there was a yet unarticulated sense that we had tapped into something with great potential, if only to could be channeled in a positive direction.

How could we invoke the power of caring, without evoking vitriol and ridicule from the market? If we could take it in a positive direction, that same power might birth a highly successful positioning in a highly competitive market.

That was the challenge. How could it be met?

“Boy, they sure threw up on that one,” one of the team members declared.

“Yes, they did. But remember the passion it aroused. Usually, consumers who don’t like a tagline are just ho-hum about it. With this one, the reaction was virulent. Let’s think about how we can turn it around into a phrase that will evoke the same passion, only in a positive direction.”

The market research consulting and management team, together with representatives from the ad agency, were all gathered in the same focus group room where we had just observed a drubbing of one of the taglines we were testing. Several had scored well with consumers, but only the tagline suggesting that the company cared about consumers had raised howls (either positive or negative).

“Okay,” said the team leader. “What else rung the bell?”

“Well, the respondents seemed to really like the stories about our customer service reps helping members, going the extra mile and all that. And a couple have echoed these sentiments with their own stores of extraordinary treatment by the reps. Maybe there is a thread we can use from that discussion.”

A few other suggestions surfaced from several other team members and then……silence. The team seemed stuck for an answer.

“I want to revisit the essence of the reaction to the customer service stories. Alright, telling consumers that this shows we care doesn’t work. We got that in spades. But is that really the essence of what those stories represent? Is a feeling of being cared for the essence, the core of it, or is there another emotion that is really being evoked by the stories?”

“So what did the respondents really say? What was their point? They object greatly to calling it caring, but how would they express it?”

“What I heard the respondents say is that they were heard—they weren’t rushed through the call—there was no sense that the rep wanted to get them off the phone. They got to explain their problem without being harried.”

“And I heard a sense of relief, an expression that they were going to be helped.”

“Then how about using ‘help’ in the tagline?  We help.”

“Ummmmmm. Something about that just doesn’t sing.” Heads nodded around the table.

“We need something with more punch.”

“Wait a minute. The respondents said they were being heard by the reps. We can’t use that; it doesn’t fit. But wouldn’t that say that the reps are really listening to the customers?”

“Yes! How about ‘We listen’?”

“Let’s try that in the next group and see how the respondents react.”

The moderator held up the storyboard we in the back room were all waiting for. The crunching of M&Ms(c), the giggling comments, the rustling of paper all stopped and the room came to a hush. Everyone held their breath to see how the respondents would react.

The moderator read the line, “We listen…,” and then the three supporting sentences and then asked for a yeah/nay/positive/negative vote as a first reaction. All eight hands shot into the air; the respondents smiled and laughed.

“So,” the moderator asked, “what attracts you about this tagline?”

“It’s exactly what I have experienced with them. They do listen. When I talk to one of their reps on the phone, they don’t rush me; they hear me out.”

“They try to understand what I need.”

“It says that they care, that they’ll take the time to listen.”

“That is just wonderful! How many companies actually do listen? All they seem to want to do is to talk at me, shout at me even; they don’t hear a word I say; they’re too busy trying to get me to pay attention to them.”

“Well,” said the moderator, “is to believeable for [Company name] to say that they listen?”

“Yes, yes, it is! Because they do. They don’t rush to judgment. They hear me out.”

“That’s been my experience with them as well, even though I haven’t had to call them for anything. They take care of business; they do things right; they’re easy to work with. That says that they listen, just as the line suggests.”

By now, the observers in the back room where practically glued to the one-way mirror, watching and listening intently. We had clearly struck something powerful here. The very words that had previously caused respondents to react so negatively, such as “we care,” were now being played back in total positivity simply by changing the word “care” to “listen.”

Best of all, listen implied that the company cared, that they were on the consumer’s side, that they truly wanted what was best for the customer.

Two words–two opposite reactions.

What could some customer insights do for your company’s marketing materials?

Dr. Bob