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