Some of our clients—ranging from category leaders to emerging brands—are asking us how to update their insights work in this current environment. It’s a natural question to ask, and the answers are different depending on your category and your strategic plans, but brands that invest in customer research when markets shift gain valuable insights that they can implement to meet changing needs.
Maintain close engagement with your customers as they adapt to shifting priorities and behaviors. Your brand’s role may be changing in their lives, and it’s critical to know how your “job to be done” can be emphasized or adjusted to best meet customers or clients where they are now.
Maintain close engagement with your customers as they adapt to shifting priorities and behaviors. Your brand’s role may be changing in their lives, and it’s critical to know how your “job to be done” can be emphasized or adjusted to best meet customers or clients where they are now.”
10 ways to invest in customer research when markets shift.
We saw during COVID and the financial crises of 2008-2009 that companies that put a hold on learning paid a steep price later for relying on desk research and ceasing to keep a pulse on the market. They were caught off guard by changing dynamics in how people approached both categories and brands.
Understanding how current market trends may influence customer thinking and behavior will give you an advantage in the long term. With that in mind, we have outlined 10 points that reflect what we’ve shared with our clients about the value of learning during this period:
1. If you have a tracking program, build in modular questions that get at the heart of how this situation is impacting your category.
2. Consider this a chance to balance the long view needs of your business with information that your brand leaders can act on now to address short-term challenges.
3. Continue to explore broader category questions while also integrating questions about how decisions, behaviors, and attitudes may be shifting in the near term.
4. Use this opportunity to get a glimpse into the future of decision-making and purchasing behavior that may be changing for the longer term.
5. Realize that if behaviors are evolving, this is a good time to capture before and after information.
6. Put mechanisms in place to ensure that you can adequately understand the changes that are taking place in the market now, allowing you to build the right action plans for later.
7. Keep a personal connection by conducting qualitative IDIs. Customers will likely want to engage and share their thoughts.
8. Capture some benchmark information now on key metrics and behaviors, so you can set yourself up for assessing things down the road to see what has stuck and what has evolved further (or shifted back).
9. While examining the new ideas in your pipeline may not be ideal now, it can be useful to see what sort of benefits and needs your customers are prioritizing in the near term. This can provide guidance for messaging, outreach, and even development for the future.
10. Review how your brand’s purpose currently resonates with your consumers/prospects and update your brand voice or key messaging as needed.
There’s no question that the merit of these thoughts should be weighed against the unique situation facing each category and brand. We hope that in sharing these we’ve provided you with some foundational ideas around which to have those conversations about what’s right for your business. If you’re interested in exploring these further, please contact us.
