connecting market research to business growth

Connecting Market Research to Business Growth

Follow us on Twitter:

@billalberti

@communispace

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Agenda

• The ultimate value proposition

• The problem with market research today

• The hidden value of its past

• 5 steps to demonstrate value tomorrow

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An infinite value proposition

THE BETTER YOU UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS

THE BETTER YOU CAN SERVE THEM

THE BETTER YOU’LL PERFORM

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UNDERSTANDING =

PERFORMANCE

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MARKET RESEARCH IS NOT DELIVERING ON THIS PROPOSITION

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Market Research as order takers

• Little access to senior executives

• Emphasis on tactical research

• Little involvement outside marketing

“The Consumer’s Voice – Can Your Company Hear It?” BCG Report, Center for Consumer Insight Benchmarking 2009

• Stronger consumer focus mandated by senior executives

• Strategic rather than tactical emphasis

• Some influence beyond marketing

• Focus on insight into individual behavior

• Stronger consumer focus on the part of senior executives

• Significant influence beyond marketing

• Growing knowledge base

• Focus on synthesized insights across data sources

and studies

• Strategic consumer research a C-suite priority

• Extensive involvement across functions

• Able to build knowledge base to become a learning organization

• Focus on both insight and foresight across data sources

and studies

Traditional Market Research Function

Business Contribution Team

Strategic Insight Organization

Strategic Foresight Organization

Market Research as an order-taking function Consumer insight as a

source of competitive advantage

1

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4ALMOST 90% OF COMPANIES ARE IN STAGES 1 AND 2

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MR investment is significant yet marginalized

~GDP of Lebanon

$1 $14vs.

MARKET RESEARCH

ADVERTISING

ESOMAR, International Monetary Fund, Group M, Communispace

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Tactical vs. Strategic support

80% of funding

Exploration CollaborationEvaluation and testing

BCG, ARF, Communispace

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An industry talking to itself

(842 entries in ESOMAR’s Market Research Glossary)

ESOMAR, Communispace, Wordle

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THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY OF UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS

MISSING

BETTER

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The roots of market research

CHARLES COOLIDGE PARLIN (1872-1942)

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The roots of market research

“he sought not to understand business, society, or the human condition as a means of intellectual exercise and a higher order of learning, but rather to help businesses to improve their profit margins.”

~ A New Brand of Business

“A New Brand of Business” Douglas Ward, Temple University, 2010

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“CONFIDENT PROMISE

OF STEADY PROFITS

THROUGH UNDERSTANDING

CONSUMER THINKING”


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Circulation Ad revenue

63%

664%

Curtis Publishing Company Results 1911 - 1926


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Legacy lives on in methodologies, not the impact

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Market research has become WAY too complicated

Market research God Parenting Diet Advertising

182,881 168,862

57,270 55,801 49,715

# of book results on Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Communispace, 7/15/2010

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Recreate the simplicity




UNDERSTANDING = PERFORMANCE

Insight IMPACT

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5 steps

1. Elevate the proposition

2. Align with the business

3. Design for impact

4. Connect to the fundamentals

5. Share

Step 1ELEVATE THE PROPOSITION

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ANSWERING QUESTIONS VS.

SOLVING PROBLEMS

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SOLVING PROBLEMS

CUSTOMERS

COMPANY

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Answering “so what?”

Our consumer insight team consistently answers the

question “so what?” about the data they provide

Insight team Business line

73%

34%

-39 pts

% strongly agree / agree

“The Consumer’s Voice – Can Your Company Hear It?” BCG Report, Center for Consumer Insight Benchmarking 2009

Step 2ALIGN WITH THE BUSINESS

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ALIGNING THE BUSINESS,

THE CUSTOMER AND THE RESEARCH

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Listening made actionable to drive growth

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Listening is a balance

Rational

About their lives

Emotional

About your brand*

Feedback

Discovery

*and competitors

Step 3DESIGN FOR IMPACT

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Tracking Impact

• Impact is as much about the input as the output

• Creating impact is a partnership and shared responsibility between research/insight group and the business

Business objective

Activities

INPUT OUTPUTInsights

Actions

IMPACT

Step 4CONNECT TO THE FUNDAMENTALS

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Understanding = Performance

Working with customers to:

Increase adoption

Decrease time to market

ONE

TWO

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A customer makes a decision…

Let’s say she has a 25% chance of choosing Moxup…

25% 75%

Competition

Ultimately it’s about

“increasing the odds” of her choosing us

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$

Traditionally, marketing would amp up the spend

Dial up the marketing investment to try to gain a greater share of mind and wallet

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Work with her, for her

Instead, what if we partnered with her to understand her better?

Co-createFeedback

Ideas

Insight

Behaviors

Aspirations

Dreams

Needs

Pain-points

Challenges

Opportunities

Trends

Thoughts

Feelings

Desires

Hopes

Decisions

Motivations

Influences

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Solving problems together

A small community working together with Moxup for the good of the greater customer

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A customer makes a decision for Moxup…

Ultimately to affect the choice of that one customer…over and over

25.03%25.02%25.01%

25%

75%74.09%

74.08%74.07%

Competition Increasing Adoption = Increasing Revenue

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Increase adoption


ONE

TWO

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Explore

Ideate

Prototype

Make, market and sell

Typical development cycle

From concepting to marketing, a time intensive process

365 days

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Continuous customer involvement

Decrease time-to-market by involving customers along the way

Explore

Ideate

Prototype


365…4…3…2 days

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Time equals money

By decreasing time, we are shortening the cycle and taking out costs

Explore

Ideate

Prototype


365…4…3…2 daysDecrease

time = Decrease expense

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Increase adoption


IMPACT PROFIT

ONE

TWO

THREE

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Small advances, big impact

Revenue Expenses Profit+ =

Increaseadoption

Decrease time-to-market

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Modeling scenarios

Inc

rea

se

ad

op

tion

Decrease time to market (days)

% profit increases

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.10%

0.20%

0.30%

0.40%

0.50%

0.60%

0.70%

0.80%

0.90%

1.00%

0.10%0.20%0.30%0.40%0.50%0.60%0.70%Pro

fitab

le im

pact

Step 5SHARE

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Impact Stories

• 5 components to the story: Business Objective, Activities, Insights, Actions, Impact

Business objective

Activities

INPUT OUTPUTInsights

Actions

IMPACT

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Sharing Impact Stories

• Make the stories memorable

• Bring customers and their insights to life

• Create an internal marketing strategy…and execute it

• Share up, down and across – build buzz

Examples of customer inspiration

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CUSTOMER PULSE CUSTOMER LEARNING CUSTOMER VOICE

Snapshot email

RapidFire report

Frontpage report

Insights report

Summary books

Video

Live presentation & events

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Examples of our own research at communispace.com

Insight IMPACT

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5 steps

Elevate the proposition

Align with the business

Design for impact

Connect to the fundamentals

Share


Feedback + Discovery

Input > Output > Impact

Performance = Profit

Impact Stories

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE