In a previous post about obstacles to win loss research, I talked about the fact that some companies just don’t do ANY research.

Some of the reasons that companies don’t do research:

  • Don’t trust their customers’ perspectives: Some companies are skeptical about their customers’ ability to be objective/overcome their biases.  Other companies consider their technology/concepts to be beyond their customers’ limited imagination.  Even the most innovative product companies have something to learn from their customers that will ensure that their products/services are delivered in a way that appeals to their target market (packaging, messaging, and more…).
  •  Think that research will take too much time: Research that is done over time vs. at one specific point in time can help ensure that no product launch or critical business decision has to wait for a project to be complete.  ANY insights you can inject into business decisions can improve the success of those decisions.
    •  Think that research will cost too much money: There are many ways to do research on a shoestring.  The simplest, least expensive research involves just picking up the phone and talking to your customers about how things are going, what their biggest problems are, and how you could continue to meet their needs.  Outside research resources definitely have their place when the research is large in scope and difficult to manage using in-house resources or when it’s important to have statistical levels of confidence in the data and/or an objective view of the data.

Companies who DO use research to gather insights about their customers are able to provide solutions that are targeted directly to a real market need and are more likely to win over their competition based on having the best understanding of what their market cares about and what messages will appeal most to them when positioning their products and services.

Companies of all sizes, from high tech to no tech can all benefit from listening to their customers and exploring the best type of research for addressing their immediate and long-term needs.

What obstacles have you seen stand in the way of companies doing research?  How has that worked for them?