Conversations with corporate researchers
Sharon Brant
Head of Market Intelligence, Worldpay
You have a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and an MBA with a focus on quantitative methods. How does this diverse educational background influence your role at Worldpay?
I’m not a traditionally trained market researcher but given my education and work experience, I can provide a business perspective to my internal clients about our industry and the markets we serve. My team delivers market and customer insights for product, marketing, strategy and operations decisions. For example, when conducting research for the marketing team to evaluate new marketing messages, I can provide actionable insights because in previous jobs I have created market plans including identifying target markets and how to reach them. I’ve also been a product manager and can relate to the challenges the product teams face when creating and validating new product ideas. I can help them ask the right questions to get answers that are actionable.
What are some of the benefits of working for a global company? Challenges?
Working for a global company keeps me on my toes. Just when you think you understand your industry, you learn something new about another country like how fast ecommerce is growing in China and the fact that they are the leading country when it comes to mobile wallet usage. It also keeps me from being U.S.-centric, even in simple things like phrases used in the U.S. compared to the U.K.
The various time zones present challenges with scheduling meetings and being able to build relationships with internal clients who are in other countries. Conducting research in other languages is also a challenge because many of the terms and phrases used in the payment processing industry do not translate well. I also require a translator when attending focus groups that are not in English.
You currently work with B2B MR. What do you miss about consumer research?
There are lots of things I miss about consumer research. It is so much easier and cheaper to find sample for both quantitative and qualitative research. Business owners are so busy and our service – payment processing – is not something they give a lot of thought about, so recruiting them for research is so much harder. For example, we had a proprietary online community for nearly two years but even with our own customers the response rates were so much lower compared to consumer panels where the members are passionate about the product or service. If I were in the pet product business, for example, most pet owners are eager to tell you about their pets, the food they like, the toys they play with, etc.
What tips would you give researchers working to change their company’s perception of the marketing research team from back office order takers to strategic partners?
That is something I’ve been working on for four years here at Worldpay. It doesn’t happen overnight. One of the things that has worked for us is identifying key stakeholders, especially executives, who value market insights in their decision-making process and making sure they know that the insights team is there to help them. It’s important to be proactive in meeting at least quarterly with stakeholders to identify their top priorities and asking what’s working or not working for them with the process, your team and the insights being provided.
Another tip is using a consultative approach by asking smart questions before starting the projects such as: What are your hypotheses? What are you trying to learn? What decision will you make based on the insights?
It’s also important to ask if you are measuring the impact that the insights have on the company. What decisions were made? We’ve found success in continually promoting the value provided by the insights team through newsletters; company intranet; lunch and learns; guest appearances at department meetings; etc. It’s also helpful to create a repository of research reports and documents for self-service by clients allowing the insights team to focus on high-priority projects.
Sharon Brant will be presenting a session titled, “How to Build a Market Intelligence Organization that Matters: A Case Study,” at The Quirk’s Event in Chicago.