Market Research is Broken

Lean Thinking Can Help Fix It

Hi, i’m @farrahbostic

I run...

If I’d asked people what they wanted,

they would have told me ‘Faster horses’.

- henry ford

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as

from your own.- henry ford

It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times,

people don't know what they want until you show it to them.

- steve jobs

We want to stand at the intersection of

computers and humanism.- steve jobs

forget conventional

wisdom

waterfall

monuments

waste

push

information request

research RFP

study design

recruitment

fielding

Analysis

Brand/product team

research & insights

research company

recruiter/panel

moderators

research company

The segments

The methodology

The screener

The discussion

guideThe facility The report

doing too muchdowntime

travelinefficiencystockpiling

unnecessary effortdefects

it’s often a push model“In push production you produce

items on a predetermined schedule or forecast. The result is inventory - manufactured items for which there

is not yet a customer.”

http://www.gembutsu.com/articles/leanmanufacturingglossary.html

we assume we knowThe customer

The value propositionThat there is a right way to get the answer

[maybe even the answer itself]

then it hit me...

Applying lean principles to research

Principles of Lean research

Start with hypotheses, not conclusions

Use right-size tools

Know the difference between the customer you have and the customer you wish you had

Make research about customer development, not respondent recruiting

Ditch the script - keep asking new questions

Talk to people where it’s relevant or convenient

Create living, usable data sets

PLACE BETS:generate hypotheses before ‘finding insights’

About the customer.

About what matters to them.

About how they live their lives.

About what they desire or how we can solve a painful problem.

use right-sized tools

who is your customer?

customer development,

not respondent recruiting

ditch the script

Be nice and listen.

http://giffconstable.com/2010/07/12-tips-for-early-customer-development-interviews/

Talk to people where it’s relevant or convenient

a.k.a., NOT HERE

information should be re-usable, not disposable

there’s more to come...but until then - this was fun.

thanks!