Four steps to getting more value from your research
Being wrong, or surprised by the facts, can cause us to dig in our heels. Let’s discuss four steps you can take to move beyond these emotions to gain more value from your consumer or participant research.
When I present the results of a consumer or participant study, the room is often full of nervous energy. After all, I’ve just asked those you serve – or wish to serve – what they think. Some in the room believe it is their job to know their customers’ thoughts intuitively. While others’ very future may hang on the survey results. Was their new product idea good, or are their customers satisfied?
This fear in the room can bring defensiveness, keeping us from listening and learning. So that’s our first step in getting more value from our research.
1. Move beyond your first emotions
First, you may have to deal with the fear of disappointment that comes with unexpected results. Perhaps it turns out there’s no market for your new product or service. Or, your retirement plan participants have not responded well to your new education campaign.
It’s okay to feel bad feelings. But, don’t let disappointment freeze you in inaction. Elbow those feelings aside for a bit. View your data dispassionately, like an outsider. Only then will you find the opportunity hiding in that disappointing data.
Surprisingly, good news can also bring challenges. Suppose the data show great opportunity for your new product, or stunning engagement with your new retirement education product. That euphoria may produce a few high-fives around the room. And that’s just fine. There’s nothing more affirming than being right, or proven to have done great work.
But again, push those emotions aside and ask: What can I learn? What did I learn? There are always hidden opportunities. So, take a deep breath and find them.
2. Be an obvious learner
You do market research to learn what you don’t know or to verify what you believe to be true.
Whenever I present data, I find both learners and knowers in the room. I’ve found that people who love to learn are often the ones who commission research.
They quickly gravitate to the opportunity; how to put the data findings to work.
For knowers in the room, the data either confirms what they already intuitively know, or it must be flawed.
Let’s be honest. On any given day, you or I can enter the room as either learners or contrarian knowers. We may have a natural inclination toward one or the other. But, the moodiness we bring to the meeting can impact our outlook. Strive to be an intentional learner when considering research results. Let others see you discover opportunities, regardless of what else has happened with your day.
3. Understand that we precisely measure the imprecise
In manufacturing, we can precisely measure scrap rates.
In healthcare, we can precisely measure mortality.
At the gas pump, we can precisely measure gallons.
I can use market research to tell you – with a great deal of precision – what your consumers or participants feel or what they think.
Yet despite statistical precision, I can be certain of only one thing: Your participants or consumers can be emotional, illogical, irrational, and unreasonable.
Often I’ve had consumer perception data challenged because it is counter-intuitive and illogical. Often the challenger is right. And, that’s precisely why we do consumer research.
People act based on what they perceive. Their reality is what they perceive it to be. Consumer research measures those perceptions and often finds them to be counter-intuitive, emotional, and illogical – very human.
If I wrongly perceive that my pension plan will give me all I need in retirement, will I need to attend workshops or use website tools?
If I perceive – incorrectly – that I can’t be financially ready for retirement, will I feel that attending a retirement education workshop is a complete waste of my time?
When I hire people for market research, I look for those with a background in psychology. Why? Because they understand that – despite the precision statistics we use – we are, at the end of the day, measuring how people feel, think and behave.
In short, consumer research helps you effectively manage relationships that, by definition, must be built on the risky, messy uncertainties of human emotions and perceptions.
All of this leads us to our fourth and final point:
4. Being wrong is awesome
I find people and relationships fascinating. That’s why I’m in the relationship-building business.
I begin many research projects with a hypothesis: Something I – or my client – believes to be true, based on experience: something seen, heard, or read.
In all honesty, there’s nothing I love more than having my strongly held beliefs – my hypothesis – proven wrong by consumer or participant research. When that happens, I know I’ve learned and have come one step close to understanding the incredibly complex beings we serve.
And, it likely means I’ve helped a client mitigate risk and discover exciting new opportunities.
