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Brian Elkins
Group Strategy Director, Heart+Mind Strategies
belkins@heartandmindstrategies.com
303-489-5010
With so many technological changes impacting the way consumers choose brands, which trends should market researchers be focused on today?
It seems every category is undergoing some form of transformation. It is difficult to distinguish the signal in the noise and impossible to chase every trend. However, within the range of shifts underway, I believe there are universal forces that have implications for every market researcher and brand strategy practitioner. No such force will be as far-reaching nor critical to sustained market success as the paradigm of “liquid expectations.”
What do I mean by liquid expectations? Consumer experiences and expectations are no longer rooted to legacy, insular category or brand assumptions. Consumers increasingly expect best practices from one interaction to be swiftly adopted across traditionally different contexts.
Take for example the impact of frictionless consumption: the seamlessness and ease of the Uber experience creates a desire for a similarly frictionless experience within the department store. The tailored “next best action” experience of Amazon changes consumer expectations of their cable TV platform and innovations in hospitality drive expectations for health care delivery.
Why is this so important? People are more interconnected than ever – not only with each other but with the contexts and systems in which they live. People give, take, exchange and build connections at a rapid pace. The result is increased expectations about how we connect, why we connect and ultimately what we choose to connect with. Businesses that factor liquid expectations into their market research and strategy development will win big.
Ultimately, at Heart+Mind Strategies we believe the full spectrum of customer experience and brand resonance is best examined through the prism of human decision-making and liquid expectation. Therefore, we cross-pollinate research, strategy and category expertise at every turn to bridge insight to activation.
Tyler Kettle
International Insights Program Manager, Google
What tips do you have for client-side researchers who are interested in learning about new approaches and methodologies but don’t have the budget in place to dive right in?
Leverage your research network to find people who have done similar types of work to build up case studies of how this has been done. Talk with vendors who specialize in this approach to learn about what they do and how they do it.
Identify the vendors that you would like to work with and even gather high-level proposals. Include this information in your business case on how this approach and method could solve key issues your stakeholders are facing and start to share it with your colleagues to get their feedback.