The research function periodically comes under siege from various forces. Decades ago, online surveys – with their non-representative samples and other supposedly fatal biases – threatened to destroy research’s methodological rigor. Then SurveyMonkey and other DIY forms of research caused fear and loathing. More recently, big data and the wizards who claim to be able to tame it seem to be infringing on MR’s turf.
Harnessing big data is still very much on the industry’s to-do list but Eric Whipkey’s article in this issue (“Insights in their sights”) sounds the alarm that there may be another army coming over the hill to eat research’s lunch or move its cheese (pick the food-related metaphor of your liking): customer experience professionals.
In a nutshell, Whipkey compares some of his takeaways from attending recent research industry conferences and a Forrester conference on customer experience. The CX people, Whipkey says, have figured out this seat-at-the-table thing and are using insights gleaned from research and other data sources to effect change within their organizations.
As he writes, “. . . CX researchers are taking this research full-circle. They actually strive to create complete closed loops from the consumer insight through to improvements in employee engagement, easier-to-use Web site navigation, easier retail shopping experiences, etc. In other words, they do not stop with insights.”
Now, when I start offering up advice for how researchers need to be doing this or doing that, I do so with the knowledge that every situation is different. In some organizations, the research and insights function is barely given the time of day or is viewed as an afterthought or a cost center. Many of you are one- or two-person “departments” doing the work of 10 and don’t have the luxury of learning to be data scientists in your spare time or otherwise expanding your skill sets on the job, to fend off the attacks from forces seemingly seeking to usurp your function.
And when I call attention to these types of threats, I’m also mindful of all of the great work that marketing research and insights people are doing. They are functioning as change agents, as drivers of strategy, as integral parts of their organizations’ daily operations (all of which, BTW, was in evidence in the presentations I listened to at the Corporate Researchers Conference in Chicago in September).
But with the implications of the Eric Whipkey article bouncing around my brain, I tried to come up with some realistic strategies for researchers who want to fend off the CX or big data hordes and realized that another article in this month’s issue offers some guidance, albeit indirectly.
The golden rules that Clarke De Pastino explores in his piece (“We’re in this together”) are aimed at brands and their relationships with their research community members but I was struck by how many of them, with a little modification, could be applied to researchers who want to fend off the CX or big data hordes. After each rule I’ve offered my spin to make it applicable to researchers:
Golden Rule #1: Demonstrate and deliver value (Make sure your work is in the service of specific business outcomes and strategies.)
Golden Rule #2: Build relationships (Hone your elevator pitch so you can pique the interest of others in your organization who may not know much about what you do.)
Golden Rule #3: Be transparent (Don’t hide behind black boxes or too much methodological rigor; acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of the research processes you’ve used and invite dialog.)
Golden Rule #5: Show impact (Trumpet your successes in an internal insights blog, newsletter or intranet.)
Golden Rule #7: Be entertaining (Don’t bore them! Know your audiences and their needs: use infographics for the time-challenged; put the implications up front and the methodology in the appendix.)
Golden Rule #8: Communicate regularly (Related to #2 and #5, what are you working on? What’s got you thinking? Might a project you did for one internal group have relevance to another?)
Good luck on the battlefield!