Businesses use research to address specific problems, test markets, expand their understanding of the customer, refine marketing messages, find opportunities for growth, and so much more. That’s a lot of pressure. But, just like anyone else, researchers and brand managers can get caught in a rut – relying on the same kinds of data, posing the same types of questions, and, inevitably, ending up with the same sorts of answers, again and again, ad infinitum.
Where traditional analytics can fail to provide researchers with the most realistic picture of consumers, innovative methodologies are upping the ante. With immersive experiences, biometric testing, and more, Explorer Research is delivering deeper insights beyond what traditional analytics can offer.
Being Married To Traditional Analytics Is A Brand Evolution Killer
These days, everyone everywhere is being asked to do more with less. Brand managers are feeling the immense strain to deliver noteworthy data to bring about positive business change, and yet research budgets are stagnating or even shrinking. This poses two kinds of problems: One, the pressure is on to make the most out of smaller budgets, and two, that pressure tends to lead consumer insights specialists to set up camp in their comfort zone, wary of trying new things.
What this looks like for brands:
- Maintaining a blindside about their own reputation, how consumers perceive their product, and how their product is being used.
- Framing research questions that fail to answer the original business question or don’t match the desired study outcomes.
It’s not only brand managers facing the burden. Researchers too can become married to a particular methodology. Research firms are also guilty of taking shortcuts, becoming overly dependent on traditional analytics, and failing to innovate. That’s because true innovation and collaboration take time. Cost and time constraints – just as much a researcher’s burden as a brand’s – keep behavioral research methods from advancing.
What this looks like for market research firms:
- Being too familiar with a particular methodology or approach
- Failing to innovate with new methods and technologies
- Force-fitting old business questions into new studies
- Not layering approaches to confirm or contradict findings
- Not offering accurate insights for meaningful business impact
How do brands (and researchers) avoid these pitfalls and tap into a wider knowledge base? How do brand managers invite challenges to their thinking about the brand and conduct studies that test the results, thus building confidence in the decisions made based on that data?
Firms that know how (and when) to utilize the wide variety of research tools available today have an enormous competitive advantage and can generate insights that lead to real business growth. The challenge is in rethinking the way we do research.
Work With an Experienced Team
Consumer behavior must be understood from a host of angles to be both accurate and actionable. An experienced team, like Explorer Research, knows the value of traditional methods in behavioral research (such as online surveys and in-person interviews) but also understands the value of innovation. Our team has the experience and expertise to go the distance with our research, creating ultra-realistic shopping experiences that deliver in-situ and in-the-moment feedback from shoppers. Working closely with our designers, stagers, and lab teams, we create an environment that is as realistic as possible, to produce the most genuine results.
A full sensory experience: When working with one of the world’s largest and most recognizable fast food brands, our team paired traditional research methods with a realistic and working reproduction of the brand’s storefront. Stocked with fresh produce daily, the shoppers studied in this environment were exposed to the smells and sights they would experience in-store – creating a full, 5-senses encounter that generated more realistic, accurate, and informative qualitative data than any online survey could yield.
Work With a Flexible Team
The key to innovation in any industry is flexibility. Market research is no exception. And yet, many market research firms are reluctant to adopt new methodologies into their approach. For those market research professionals looking to stay at the cutting edge of research, being open to new approaches, new vendors, and more innovative methods is critical. Asking ‘How can we look at this from a different angle?’, and admitting, ‘We’ve tried this before and it didn’t work…here’s a better way’, is what sets Explorer Research apart.
Evolving approaches: We encourage brand managers and consumer insights professionals to layer methodologies. With an additional level of behavioral study, we can deliver insights that brands may never have considered about their products. This commitment to layering approaches means breaking down the blind spots many brands have about their reputation amongst consumers. Our experience means we’ve tried most things before, and we are willing and able to share those pitfalls with you. For every hurdle, we’ve developed a new approach. This saves our clients time, money, and wasted energy on outdated thinking.
Work With a Tech-Savvy Team
Unfortunately, there are a lot of research firms out there that claim to offer the latest and greatest in technology. Eye-tracking technology is an important example. Although many firms purport to offer eye-tracking data, in reality, they deliver only click-based reporting. This type of data fails to garner realistic consumer behavior data. True eye-tracking technology, on the other hand, uses state-of-the-art sensors so close to the eyes that it yields high-fidelity data brands can rely on.
Technology during the pandemic: Restrictions placed upon traditional research during the pandemic brought many projects to a grinding halt. Not so, for those with technology on their side. At Explorer Research, we were able to create immersive in-store environments, virtually, with VR technology and 360-degree videos. Being at the cutting edge of technology means our tech-savvy team generates the most accurate and telling data, no matter the conditions.
Explorer Research delivers deeper insights that go beyond traditional analytics. As we continue to evolve our product offerings, adopt new technologies, and connect with expert technology partners and platforms, we develop tools that allow us to execute innovative approaches to answering your business’s most burning questions.
For more information on how Explorer Research can deliver for your business, get in touch with our team today.
