No one can predict the future, but with the right techniques, you can gather insight to uncover potential new business opportunities to stay competitive and grow.

In today’s complex business environment, marketers and consumers share something in common: overwhelm. Conquer it with product benefits!

What’s a common way to uncover deep consumer insight, linking product attributes and benefits sought?

Benefit laddering.

When properly constructed, a benefit hierarchy organizes thinking and signals powerful identity and innovation opportunities.

Break it Down: Ask “Why?” 3 Times

A benefit hierarchy breaks down a particular product or category into three […]

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter- inch hole.”

This amusing quote by Theodore Levitt, an American economics and business professor, speaks to the idea of focusing on customer benefits rather than product attributes.

Memorable as it is, the quote is also extremely powerful…

People […]

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to opportunities to gather customer insight.

Sometimes, a broad range of perspectives is essential for strategic context when gathering customer insight.

In other cases, however, doing a “deep dive” with a particular segment is necessary.

Broad range or deep dive into your market?

Gaining […]

How do we begin each client engagement?

Simple: By defining what is known and unknown about the customer, market, and current situation.

Some organizations have a staggering amount of market intelligence. In others, it’s virtually nonexistent. You’d think the more customer research, the better the insight.

By studying consumer trends and identifying customer segments, we move next to Concept Optimization REsearch (CORE) to obtain insight on new product solutions, developed using focused ideation and prototyping.

When Business Growth Stalls…

We conducted a study for a client who manufactures baking mixes for pancakes, waffles, cakes, muffins, and […]

EVER EAT PANCAKES AT HOME? 

If so, do you make them from scratch, use a mix, or eat the frozen kind? 

Does adding water to the mix constitute baking? How about adding an egg? 

We set out to answer these and other questions for a client looking to grow their […]

How do you obtain customer input?

Occasionally, we get calls from potential clients who value customer input, but are unsure how to obtain it.

Maybe you can relate.

“We want to conduct research” is their request. We follow up with probing questions to understand their needs better: To whom do you want to talk, and for what purpose?

Using […]