Work

Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research

Journey Mapping

Feature Requirements

Product/Service Road-mapping 

I was asked to help a successful, 40-year-old family-owned global company to integrate a formalized consumer insights approach into their US product development and marketing practice.    

They relied heavily on small game testing sessions, their gut, inherent knowledge of the market, and the insight of retail buyers. This had worked in the past, but they knew it is not viable for the next era.  

To achieve this tall order of shifting the mindset of an organization to be more consumer-centric, we had to take an incremental approach. We had to start small and gain near-term wins to demonstrate the value. We started evaluating products, packaging, and advertising prior to an upcoming launch. Normally, this is too late, but we had to start somewhere. We brought in consumers and evaluated the entire 360 experience - attract, engage, and extend for four products. We evaluated how they are attracted to the product through advertising and point-of-purchase; the unboxing, opening, and set up of the product; how they engaged with the product; and finally, how they would interact with it after their first time. We built a consumer journey highlighting the delight and pain points. Recommendations included: enhancements to the next generation product experience, and enhancements to the instructions, packaging, and advertising. Plus, recommendations on where to reach these consumers. Historically, they relied heavily on traditional TV spots, but many of these consumers were elsewhere. 

This was the start of our relationship. 

After over a year of working together, we are making progress. Over this time, we've gained insight into over 20 products and concepts. We've built a panel of loyal users who will continue to participate in future consumer research efforts. We implemented a consumer insights lab at the US Headquarters. We conducted a successful in-home quantitative product comparison study to help build a compelling story for retail buyers. The results helped contribute to landing this new product in the biggest retailer. And most importantly, we are making space for consumer insights and moving it further up in the product development process from evaluative to identifying white-space growth opportunities to inform a new division. Stay tuned for future, impactful business results.