FutureProof And Thrive With Market Research During Uncertain Times
We live in a time when many companies are experiencing huge losses, and leaders are looking for solutions that ensure their long-term viability. Possible answer? market research.
I spoke with Rick Kelly, director of strategy at Fuel Cycle, and learned that market research is an underused tool for companies looking for long-term financial and profitable brand performance.
Gary Drenik: Layoffs have affected many sectors, including corporate researchers. Retrenchment is often seen as a short-term solution to current instability. How can internal research be used to address internal instability issues?
Rick Kelly: The only permanent way to improve employee relationship stability is for management teams to measure employee information and act on it. In other words, the same methods that market researchers use to study customer needs should be applied to employees. The goal is to use employee insights to develop incentive packages, cultures and work environments that deliver positive business benefits.
At Fuel Cycle, we are seeing increased interest and acceptance in employee-focused communities. While employee research is not new, management teams have found that the old patterns of employee surveys conducted once or twice a year are no longer enough to increase employee engagement. Instead, visionary leaders are turning to flexible recruiting. These leaders often use employee feedback and iterative methods to create incentives and cultures that lead to positive outcomes.
There are tangible benefits to working on employee ideas. According to Dr Paul Turner of the University of Leeds, companies with dedicated employees tend to grow faster and have higher profitability than companies with less committed employees. They also tend to have longer lead times and better customer experiences than their industry peers.
Drenik: In this time of economic uncertainty, many executives are adjusting their operating expenses. How do you manage research costs if modifications are needed?
Kelly: We're really getting closer to an environment where companies need to be aware of their costs and resource allocation. Gen Z spending should remain relatively stable, according to a recent survey by Prosper Insights & Analytics, but 41.9% of Baby Boomers (who own the largest share of America's wealth) are increasingly choosing to buy rather than sell.
Additional research efforts should decrease. This means that the time and money spent on research must be reduced so that the results can be used. Therefore, the standardization of processes and the implementation of IT solutions are of great importance.
Drenik: From the peak of the epidemic to the current level of inflation, consumer habits have changed dramatically over the past three years. What are the best strategies for companies and their research teams to adapt to changing consumer behavior?
Kelly: Traditional analytics processes don't display information fast enough to keep up with the pace of change. In many cases, they are unreasonably expensive, burdening them with advice and human labor that can be largely automated. This investment in time and money puts companies at risk of making decisions blindly rather than making the confident decisions that come with constant communication with their key audiences. Automated workflows provide a more complete, up-to-date, and actionable view of customer needs than traditional processes.
In addition, the introduction of technology improves the decision-making process using multiple data sources. By combining existing behavioral data with analytics (such as surveys and focus groups), companies gain a comprehensive view of changing preferences, based entirely on real-world data. This is a major shift in research practices that have traditionally been unable to match behavioral and survey data to provide insights.
Drenik: Research can help companies make data-driven decisions. However, the market research industry has a reputation for being slower and more programmatic. How can companies revitalize their research teams and respond to current consumer concerns?
Kelly: Marketing research should not be limited to a dedicated team. In allocating research responsibilities among departments, all members of the organization should consider the ability to conduct the necessary research, analyze the results, and prepare solutions based on don-based materials that must be unique in the market. Research. Forward-thinking organizations strive to give their brand, marketing, funding, customer support, and stakeholders access to solutions that enable them to initiate and analyze research projects.
The democratization of access to data is driving collaboration and innovation, spurring actionable research that enables near-real-time decision making based on customer preferences.
Drenik: What are the biggest challenges for market researchers in 2023? Will these problems continue beyond this period of instability?
Kelly: The need to stay ahead of customer preferences continues to grow. In a rapidly changing world, preferences are changing faster than ever. Statistical groups cannot rely on traditional methods to obtain information at the speed of today's business. Changes must be made to keep it relevant and successful.
Our current phase of volatility is a reflection of more volatility in general. If we look back over the past 30 years, there has never been a time when the world was not sustainable. With economic fluctuations, deglobalization, advances in artificial intelligence and other unexpected changes, I believe that researchers will have to provide faster and more efficient analytical data for a long time to come.
Drenik: Thank you Rick for sharing your unique perspective and ideas.
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