In the fast, complex world of automotive market research, navigating the journey to enhanced customer understanding and increased profitability requires more than asking questions, crunching numbers, and creating visual reports. The two key elements needed are a collaborative team approach and real-time innovation methodologies.
Let me share with you a story of a collaborative approach that happened early in my career. I found myself meeting with a seasoned automotive insights executive, discussing the intricacies of a multi-phased consumer research project. As we delved into the details, one crucial aspect remained unaddressed — the budget. Curious, I broached the topic, only to receive a response that left me both amused and agitated. The executive leaned back in his chair and laughter arose from within him as he declared, “I tell all my stakeholders the same thing … it’s going to cost … one million dollars!” While it may or may not have been an Austin Powers/Dr. Evil reference, the moment stuck with me.
Organizations that can find the balance creating a culture where researchers and stakeholders collaborate, sharing their areas of expertise in meaningful ways, are those that maximize their research ROI.”
What did he mean? Why would he say that? It wasn’t a huge investment project, certainly he just thought he was being funny. As I’ve evolved in the market research world, I see this encounter in a new light. He was always available to his internal team members, willing to help identify the best research approach and guide the team to achieve the insights required. And, in a very cordial way communicated that the efforts taken to fulfill the request required strategic purpose and financial benefit for the organization. He held internal stakeholders as accountable to the research outcomes as he did his suppliers. Working with him, research suppliers became part of the team, we were not order takers that fulfilled requests. The result? Strategic insights that truly impacted business decisions were consistently achieved ahead of schedule, within budget, and highly socialized throughout the organization.
Organizations that can find the balance creating a culture where researchers and stakeholders collaborate, sharing their areas of expertise in meaningful ways, are those that maximize their research ROI. By engaging stakeholders early on, research teams gain valuable insights into business challenges, target audience criteria, and strategic objectives. This collaboration fosters alignment, flexibility, and clarity, paving the way for deeper customer understanding and increased profitability.
Compared to more traditional testing approaches, RTCI and RTCO increases creative development while decreasing the project timelines. … There’s an energy around these real-time approaches that comes from the full team collaboration, the satisfaction associated with propelling the creative process forward, and the significant time savings.”
The second key essential to ensure that your team is gaining deeper customer understanding is having real-time innovation methodologies. Radius has developed two proprietary methodologies — Real-Time Concept IterationTM (RTCI) and Real-Time Concept OptimizationTM (RTCO) — that empower the iteration of concepts in a qualitative setting with internal stakeholders engaged with the research team and providing feedback in real-time. This agile approach allows for swift concept refinement, ensuring that the results resonate with the target audience and align seamlessly with brand objectives.
Automotive brand teams have adopted these approaches which enables them to test, iterate, and evolve concepts over the course of a few days either virtually or on location. Compared to more traditional testing approaches, RTCI and RTCO increases creative development while decreasing the project timelines. There’s an energy around these real-time approaches that comes from the full team collaboration, the satisfaction associated with propelling the creative process forward, and the significant time savings.
Contact us to discover more about the power of collaborative teamwork and real-time innovation methodologies.
