Change their perspective

Editor's note: Fran Guzman is consumer insights and strategy lead at Kraft Heinz Company, Chicago. 

Given corporations’ goals to be consumer-led and the function’s inherent capability to gather, analyze and interpret data, consumer insights is aiming to reposition itself from being seen as a cost-center to being a source of competitive advantage. Insights is no longer just focused on mitigating risk but also on driving strategic agendas to unlock growth. The function is increasingly playing a key role beyond just marketing.

After working on various strategy initiatives representing the voice of the consumer and assisting with research, I’ve identified some guiding principles to help insights teams succeed. The principles outlined below revolve around the areas the function has the most influence and involvement in: framing the business problem; data collection and analysis; and recommendations. 

Framing the problem

Whatever the corporate strategy initiative may be, start by positioning it as a problem. That way, your task becomes to find a data-informed solution. Something that can be fact-checked. This allows you to develop various hypotheses to identify the “real” problem. It also provides a roadmap for research and analysis you need to vet the hypotheses quicker and to do so simultaneously.

Which problem you frame and how you frame the problem are key considerations. Ideally, you should be able to frame your problem very succinctly. For example, if I’m a restaurant brand with declining sales (compared to last year) you can probably frame my problem as Why did sales decline and what should I do now? Framing the problem correctly takes time, though, and you need to ensure you work on the right problem.

Focus on understanding the key drivers of your problem – aim for depth instead of breadth. There may be five to 10 reasons why sales declined compared to last year for our hypothetical restaurant. However, based on research with lapsed users, you know that the increasingly saturated market, the brand’s outdated product offerings and poor customer experience are the biggest reasons why consumers have stopped visiting your brand. Start with those as your initial leading hypotheses and let your data analysis prove or disprove them. 

Work on the right problem. Capture the essence of the problem, because in the end, you’ll seek what you set yourself to seek. Do not accept the consensus of what the problem is at face value. Continuing with the restaurant example, the drivers outlined assume that sales declines are due to a drop in customer visits. However, it could very well be that the sales declines are actually due to a drop in average spend per visit and not a drop in traffic. The hypothesis-driven problem-solving framework helps you identify the right problem.

Frame questions, not statements because questions lead to new thoughts. A statement like “Same-store sales are down” focuses thinking around things not going well while a question like “How can we grow same-store-sales?” encourages solutions-based thinking. 

Data collection and analysis

Once you frame the problem, you know the questions to ask and the data to get. This is the section that insights can impact the most. Outside of managing the technical aspects of the research, the function can also drive action.

Triangulated data trumps precise data. The rise of big data has led to a fear of missing out on some big insights because you are not analyzing all the data or lack the “right” data. Thus, a large chunk of time is spent trying to find and clean the data. Instead, triangulate data points to answer key questions. 

In the restaurant example, one of the questions you’ll need to answer is, By how much have sales declined? You’d probably prioritize point-of-sale data but as many know, these systems are riddled with issues: connectivity, software problems, inaccurate reporting, etc. Don’t spend time getting a singular source “right.” Instead, use your brand health tracker and a consumer panel that also tracks spend per trip via different methodologies. This provides more confidence in your answers and allows you to move quicker. 

So what? As you analyze research results, focus on what helps you prove or disprove a hypothesis. Many times, research share-outs are summary reports instead of an overview of the implications for what you are trying to accomplish. Don’t be distracted by interesting facts or cool chart graphics; focus on the data that gets you to the solution.

To drive actionability, know the limits of data analysis. Draw the inferences from the analysis within the business context in which you are operating. This is the phase where intuition takes the lead from data. In our example, if you determine that declining sales are driven by traffic loss and that that is due to your restaurant being further away compared to competitors, your recommendation must fit the business realities. You would not likely recommend building additional locations, given how cost-prohibitive that is. A more likely recommendation would be to make the brand more accessible via a delivery platform that incorporates loyalty programs.

Don’t make the facts fit your solution. Be prepared for the data analysis to prove your hypothesis wrong, no matter how brilliant or spot-on you think it may be. If the data does not support your hypothesis, it is the hypothesis that must change, not your data. Do not manipulate data to tell a different story or work backwards to get the “ideal” data points that support the solution you or leadership may want.

Recommendation

After all the hypotheses you vetted, the dead-end questions you explored to get to the right questions, the various research studies, the continuous data analysis and the pressure-testing of ideas, you are finally ready to put it all together. Many focus on documentation instead of pitching an idea that you want your audience to approve and implement. Outside of basic presentation etiquette and organizational norms, you can take steps to ensure it runs smoothly. 

Shop around your solution. Walk relevant decision makers through your findings and recommendation, prior to the official presentation. This keeps you from getting blindsided by major objections, helps build consensus for your solution among decision-makers and, most importantly, gives you time to adapt your solution as needed.

Use the presentation as a pitch. While you may be confident in your analysis and solution, you still need to convince your audience that your recommendation is the right action. Keep in mind that they are typically senior leadership who have commissioned the project but have not worked on it as closely as you have. The presentation is a tool to bring them along and excite them about the solution.

Structured and simple. You should walk the audience through the project from soup to nuts during the presentation. Summarize the problem, provide business context, assumptions, frameworks, project milestones and the overall approach that got you to the solution. It should be so structured and simple that you could develop an elevator pitch for this project. 

Your presentation should be crisp and clean. To be most effective at conveying information, have one message per slide and avoid complex charts. The meaning of the charts should be immediately obvious. If you need to explain, you lose the audience on technicalities. Focus on the information that supports the recommendation. 

Getting there is a process

Corporate strategy development and implementation is resource-intensive, data-driven and complicated. However, the insights function’s consumer knowledge and data analysis abilities make them an asset on these project teams. This level of work also gives insights a competitive advantage by making strategic research a priority, embedding insights across functions and building an enterprise-wide knowledge base. The true impact of a best-in-class insights function is invaluable but getting there is a process. Increasing involvement in these types of projects is a move in the right direction. Insights teams that ensure they are value-adding partners put themselves in an ideal position to continue being central to their organizations’ strategic planning.