| Five tips to keep costly market research from | | | | look on the face of a member of staff when |
| gathering dust | | | | they understand for the first time the impact |
| | | | of their efforts on a real person's life. |
| I have a sneaking suspicion that the more a | | | | |
| piece of market research costs, the less | | | | 2. Apply to so what factor (or addressing |
| likely it is to actually be read. | | | | what's in it for me?) |
| | | | |
| All around the world, market research | | | | Research agencies and academics may not |
| carefully generated by government bodies, | | | | object to research for research's sake, but |
| universities and private companies is | | | | the rest of the world tends to ask "so what?" |
| propping up wobbly desks, mopping up spilt | | | | or indeed utter less polite equivalents. |
| coffee and gathering dust in forgotten | | | | |
| corners. | | | | So what?, Why should I care?, What's in it |
| | | | for me? Fail to address these objections at |
| Meanwhile killer competitive insights remain | | | | your peril. I've written lots about the "so |
| undiscovered by those that could turn them | | | | what?" factor, so I won't labor it here. But |
| into profitable business decisions. | | | | in short, forget the "this is so fascinating" |
| | | | and skip to the "this will make you a lot of |
| The problem does not so much lie with the | | | | money." Ears will soon prick up. |
| quality of the research, nor the competence | | | | |
| of those that commissioned it. I believe the | | | | 3. Less is more |
| biggest make or break factor for the | | | | |
| usefulness of any knowledge is how | | | | It takes way more time to write a short |
| effectively it can be transferred out of the | | | | report than it does to write a long one. |
| researchers' brains and into the brains of | | | | Tough, because less really is more when it |
| those who are in a position to act on it. | | | | comes to acting on research. |
| | | | |
| I recently asked some busy, busy clients how | | | | If you need different lengths, styles and |
| I could better help them consume the research | | | | formats different internal audiences, take |
| they had paid for. The most common answer | | | | this into account from the start. Just don't |
| (almost unanimously in fact) was to implant | | | | send the CEO the 100 pager and expect it to |
| it straight into their brains! | | | | be read! |
| | | | |
| Now, I'm not sure those direct-to-brain | | | | If you are commissioning research, think |
| research implants are quite ready to hit the | | | | about being specific with your agency about |
| streets yet. | | | | how little you want to see, as well as how |
| | | | much. I'd love a client to challenge me to |
| So in the meantime, here are my top tips for | | | | distill my research findings to a 50 word SMS |
| ensuring the insight from research gets | | | | message! |
| successfully transferred to those who can | | | | |
| actually do something based on it. | | | | 4. Resonance - or the subtle art of letting |
| | | | people hear their own words |
| 1. Put a human face on it | | | | |
| | | | Generally speaking, people like taking part |
| People trump numbers and charts every time. | | | | in research. But they become jaded if they |
| Finding a way to bring your numbers and | | | | are continually asked for their input, yet |
| analysis back to people is a sure way to get | | | | they see no changes or improvements. |
| people paying attention. | | | | |
| | | | Resonance is the delicate art of letting |
| One of the techniques I use for this is the | | | | research participants understand you heard |
| development of personas. I distill key | | | | them and their views mattered and is |
| customer segmentation information and put an | | | | particularly useful in community and internal |
| appropriate human face on it, based on known | | | | organization research. People recognize the |
| characteristics, phrases and behaviors. | | | | echo of their own words and respect that you |
| | | | took them seriously. The outcome tends to be |
| The impact is massive, because well-crafted | | | | that they then take the research more |
| visitor personas are intuitively grasped by | | | | seriously, improving acceptance and |
| people that would otherwise struggle to get | | | | actionability. |
| their head round research data in other | | | | |
| forms. | | | | 5. Keep it simple |
| | | | |
| When you hear businesses or staff member | | | | Final tip? Keep it simple. No, I'm not |
| referring to a persona by name, you know | | | | suggesting you dumb down the ideas, not at |
| knowledge has been transferred to where it | | | | all. |
| belongs. | | | | |
| | | | Just that for every 5 minutes spent on being |
| But a human face doesn't just mean complex | | | | the clever old genius you undoubtedly are, |
| persona development. | | | | you commit 55 minutes to distilling it so it |
| | | | can be clearly understood by others. |
| Researchers are great at stripping the human | | | | |
| element out of the research process until | | | | Think about ensuring the language, the |
| nothing but hard data remains (and there are | | | | graphs, the layout are as clear and simple as |
| some good reasons for this). Yet for | | | | possible - and test it out. I often run |
| effective knowledge transfer, look at getting | | | | complex research reports by my Mum. |
| some of those real words and real people back | | | | Seriously, she can detect fuzziness and |
| in. | | | | jargon at twenty paces. |
| | | | |
| A real person expressing their own views | | | | So, keep it human, aim for resonance and keep |
| (whether on video, audio or in writing) will | | | | reporting short, relevant and simple. Follow |
| have way more impact on an audience than | | | | these five tips when commissioning or |
| pages of skilfully crafted data | | | | producing research for your organisation and |
| interpretation. | | | | people will pay attention. |
| | | | |
| The human face is also invaluable in | | | | That way, you can ensure that your research |
| transferring insight to staff members with | | | | generates profitable action, instead of |
| little customer contact. You should see the | | | | generating dust. |