The ability to act on insights is the defining factor that determines whether your research investment is truly worthwhile. It is the way most of us can assess the ROI of the work we do. When looking at what separates the most actionable insights from the rest, we see that those having the most impact tend to…
- Help develop a grounded, clearly defined focus on your business needs/goals
- Offer a well-rounded picture of the business issue you’re trying to address
- Deepen your understanding of what matters most to your customers/consumers
- Establish connections, emotionally and rationally, with the people you are speaking to
- Humanize the impact of your business by offering a tangible perspective on what your brand means (or can mean) to people
- Clarify a path forward for resolving your business issue
- Strengthen your brand’s impact and deepen its connection with your target customers/consumers
Think about the qualities that have led to actionable results in your business. My guess is that the drivers of success align closely with those outlined above: they speak to delivering a complete picture of your business needs and providing insights that your team can rely on and relate to.
Mixed methodology for a broad view
When I look across the hundreds of engagements we have with clients in a given year, what tends to differentiate those that had a great outcome from those that had just an okay, or good, outcome is that a vast majority of the stand-out projects involved multi-phased, mixed methodology solutions.
It’s when we work with our clients to design and implement approaches that connect a broad-based view of their business issue with a deeper, more personal understanding of how that issue impacts their customers/consumers that the outcomes truly take hold within a team or organization. That intersection of data-driven learning with immersion in how and why something matters to people in their daily lives is the sweet spot where insights can emerge and take flight for a brand or product team.
That intersection of data-driven learning with immersion in how and why something matters to people in their daily lives is the sweet spot where insights can emerge and take flight for a brand or product team.”
Get the complete picture
Consider something as simple as a new product concept. Companies in all industries routinely have innovative ideas they feel would be worth introducing to the marketplace. These range from new benefits or features they want to promote to updated designs for existing products to completely new offerings. In many cases teams move ahead with these ideas with no customer input, with feedback from a focus group or two, or with a quick concept test. Unfortunately, all of these options leave teams with knowledge gaps that, if filled, could lead to a much more successful outcome for their idea. The result is often wasted or misallocated resources, or sub-optimal performance.
Filling in knowledge gaps can be less time consuming and costly than you might think. Utilizing an approach that ties together Real-Time Concept Optimization (RTCO) with a quick-turn concept test has helped teams mitigate risks and maximize the use of their resources in launching a new idea. The RTCO phase leads to more successful outcomes by providing very personal, in-depth, tangible input from small group discussions with consumers. These insights lead to refined ideas that will better resonate with the market at large. RTCO then takes the refined ideas and quickly tests them with a broader audience to size and prioritize the best ones in a reliable, data-driven manner.
Utilizing an approach that ties together Real-Time Concept Optimization (RTCO) with a quick-turn concept test has helped teams mitigate risks and maximize the use of their resources in launching a new idea.”
The RTCO process is simple, yes, but also highly effective because it provides that complete picture the team needs to move forward confidently.
Blending in-depth understanding that comes from immersive discussions with the broader perspective that results from applying data science techniques to reflect market sentiment at large delivers the best results. It’s because of this combination that mixed methodology solutions are the ultimate in capturing actionable insights.
Read more about our Mixed Methodology approach: 5 Ways to Connect Insights Across Mixed Methodologies.
Reach out to learn more about our approach to mixed methodology and RTCO.
