Editor’s note: Shanna Cleveland is senior marketing research coordinator at association management firm Innovatis Group, Nashville, Tenn. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared under the title, “Data tells a story: How to make market research engaging.”
Market research is data. Historically, market research was about collecting a whole compilation of data and sending it off to a client for them to slice and dice as they saw fit. Today, it has evolved to providing insights alongside data sets. Data tells a story and it takes good market research practices to make data’s story relevant and applicable.
Association market research
In associations, market researchers have data, insights and engaged members to tap into. The voice of the member is not one-sided. Members care if the community has relevant content, networking, notable speakers at events and meaningful opportunities to engage. In addition, members want their voices to be heard. Unlike other industries where engaged respondents are hard to come by, association research is sourced from advocates willing to provide quality feedback. It is music to a market researcher’s ears.
Effective market research builds customers up, listens to them and utilizes their feedback to inform decisions about the community. In user groups, market research takes capturing the voice of the member to a whole new level.
Prioritizing the voice of the member, making data-driven recommendations, creating customized quantitative and qualitative engagements, as well as strategic multi-phased campaigns and actionable insights, are critical elements of a market research campaign.
Engaging and strategic
User groups are powerful communities full of rich insights. But, how do you best leverage all the community has to offer? Research should be productive, engaging and strategic and can follow this five-step process.
1. Captivate. Make market research a regular and valuable experience for the user community. Captivate the community and its stakeholders by showcasing the enhanced engagement and tangible changes that can arise from strategic market research campaigns. This involves adding regular and intentional data collection as standard procedure within the community.
2. Conceptualize. First, set up a discovery call with key stakeholders to conceptualize the goals and objectives of the market research campaign. It is essential to get everyone on the same page. Identify what research questions need to be answered and explore what hypotheses need to be tested. Diving in too quickly without alignment on research objectives can result in a lot of data with little meaning or value.
3. Customize. Choose an engagement style and research method that aligns with the campaign’s objectives and audience. You know who your members are and what resonates with them, so engage with them in a compelling way! Whether it’s a focus group, survey or exit question after an event, customize the method, tone and voice of the questions to yield successful results. Also be sure to build a timeline and outreach plan before the campaign kicks off.
If the questions and data gathering methods are not thoughtfully prepared and strategically crafted, members can easily become frustrated or lose interest. This leaves stakeholders without the vital answers they need to guide community decisions. Sometimes a simple change in wording is all it takes to remove confusion in a question.
4. Capture. It’s time to capture the voice of the member! Launch the campaign and collect the data. Choose how to alert members that they are able to share their voice. Is it an engaging email, a text or a post on an active discussion board? Pick a method that resonates with the target audience. As data comes in, review the real-time results, monitor how the campaign is going and make any adjustments as needed.
5. Capitalize. Finally, analyze and synthesize the data into a story that’s valuable for stakeholders. Ensure the final deliverable is in a useful format. For example, do they prefer a slide deck with detailed graphs and headlines, a one-sheeter with key findings or a dashboard to filter the raw data? Capitalize on the data at hand and craft it into a cohesive story that yields actionable recommendations. When data is presented in a compelling manner, it can quickly help educate business decisions and invoke real change in user communities.
Close the feedback loop
It is important to keep a pulse on the community and not rely on old data. Continue to monitor the community’s health and progress over time on key metrics. This ensures that strategic decisions are made with relevant and timely data sets.
A critical piece to this step is not to forget to close the feedback loop. Have a plan for how and when the data and resulting action items will be shared with the community. Keep members in the loop so they see the tangible benefits of taking the time to share their feedback. This will keep your feedback loop healthy, strong and benefitting all parties involved.