Research is just another tool in their toolbox for connecting with customers. Actually asking users what’s working and what’s not is critical to make sure you’re meeting a marketplace need and optimizing your product or service accordingly. This is extra important in the current environment, where so much of a brand experience has shifted to digital.
In doing research for nearly 20 years (!?) I’d say hands-down the most effective way to elicit authentic feedback from your target is to leverage data collection techniques native to the audience you’re trying to reach. It’s common sense, but surprisingly overlooked. People want to weigh in and feel like they’re a part of something, an asset to the brands they are actively keeping in their orbit during these uncertain times.
So what does that mean for doing market research right now? Leaning into remote participation, accessible on mobile. A few tactics we’ve leveraged in 2020:
- Adapting the video conferencing/chat platforms so many of us many of us are already using, like Zoom, Google Meetings and even FaceTime for focus groups or one-on-one interviews. I wrote about successful DIY Zoom Focus Groups in detail a few months ago here.
- Getting creative with Instagram’s polling features in Stories; it’s a great way to get a gut check on pressing questions from brand advocates in a way that feels easy instead of onerous.
- Creating private Facebook Groups (or re-purposing existing ones) as explicitly moderated communities, enabling ongoing asynchronous conversation & two-way learning.
While study design is certainly never a one-size-fits all endeavor, in combination with clearly defined research objectives, thinking beyond email surveys and old-school lab environments can produce some amazing & actionable intelligence for your brand.