Conversations with corporate researchers
Andy Whittaker
Director of Market Insights, WeddingWire
You have worked within a variety of industries (tech, tourism, nonprofits, etc.). Is there one market segment that you found more open to participating in the research process than others?
I have found that most people like to give their opinion. But participants are more heavily invested in sharing what’s on their mind when the research topic is close to their heart – like weddings or travel – or close to their wallet – basically anything related to finances. You might be surprised by the latter but once some rapport is developed, customers are often willing to provide very detailed information about their spending and saving habits because finances are so important to them.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced when joining a company as its first market researcher?
Determining the right benchmarks – and quickly. I’ve built insights roles in four different organizations, and every organization has required a slightly different approach. But in general, brand and product owners want to show the impact of campaigns and product enhancements on what consumers think. That means you have to gather the right metrics prior to any significant launch and have them tracked properly over time.
Could you describe a time, in detail, where you successfully combined traditional research methods with behavioral data at WeddingWire?
Our WedInsights series provides wedding professionals with key industry data about couples planning their wedding and wedding pros themselves. One of our initial reports was on the customer journey, where we combined survey data about the planning perceptions, stress-levels and factors considered by brides and grooms before contacting a vendor and actual data about when couples contact each category of vendor on WeddingWire. That’s where I’ve seen the combination of data to be so valuable, combining respondent recall, emotions and perceptions – items that could only be gathered through self-report – with real on-site behavior to tell an overall story of what’s happening.
Are there any types of insights or data that you haven’t found an effective way of gathering?
I would love to see more easily accessible, off-the-shelf quant tools – choice-based exercises and conjoint. Today, doing one of these projects requires a significant investment through outsourcing and/or purchasing software. Some of the simple solutions on the market lack the depth of analysis and simulators that are truly needed.
What new methodology do you see yourself leveraging in the next year?
First, more mobile data collection. As consumers are spending more time on smartphone and tablet devices, we want to be there gathering more data. Additionally, I think there is going to be a return to some focus on traditional qual methods. While the rise of big data has created many opportunities to gather micro-behavior online, qual is still extremely effective in understanding the “why” behind key actions.