Good Research Has Insights Baked In
Here’s a sobering question for professionals who work in the “insights” industry: How much of your market research really offers insight?
Not just validating data, or routine measurements, or pro forma tracking. Not just percentages of “how many said what” in a customized study. By true insight we mean:
- a direct answer
- to a deeply relevant question
- that was previously unknown, and
- that has immediate implications for what to do next.
What would you say—does one-tenth of your market research achieve a level of true insight? One-quarter? Half?
One important reason that market research does not always deliver on its promise stems from the careless way in which research is often thrown together. Ask a bunch of questions, push them into a data gathering tool, push the data into a chart-building tool, put a little title on the chart, translate it into words … as if a magic analytics tool can transform it all into insight at the end … or better yet, as if a brilliant strategic brain can squeeze out insight in the end from an empty and thoughtless process.
There’s a better way. Bake insights into the research process itself. Versta Research’s Fall Newsletter shows you how in three steps:
- Bake insights into the questions you ask, which means carefully translating business needs into questions for study participants that will seamlessly deliver an “aha” without any need for elaboration.
- Bake insights into the charts you create, which means thinking through all possibilities for displaying data with a deliberate focus on the contrast, context, and messages that need to be conveyed.
- Bake insights into the headlines you write, which means focusing on the story that the data prove, rather than merely describing data in words.
For the full (free!) recipe, read our Fall Newsletter, which is chockfull of other tips and tricks for great research that will make you hungry for more. Plus you can sign up for the Versta Research Newsletter, which is faithfully delivered in the first month of every quarter (January, April, July, October).
And of course you can always give us a call at (312) 348-6089 for our best ideas and research that can help you deliver better, deeper insights than you are probably used to from a research vendor.
