L'article
Faced with an avalanche of unstructured data, companies struggle to extract meaningful insights to fuel their decision-making process.
In response to this challenge, they are exploring more direct methodologies that involve questioning their clients and prospects on specific topics. This approach aims to generate reliable insights that are easy to leverage and utilize effectively.
Facing the deluge of unstructured data, companies struggle to rationalize their decisions
Economic activity, broadly speaking, has never generated as much data about its operations. However, amidst fragmented purchasing journeys, the proliferation of channels, and extended sales cycles, decision-makers must gather and make sense of massive, unstructured, scattered data that ultimately seem useless.
For many, we are living in the era of “decision distress”. According to an Oracle study involving 14,000 professionals across 17 countries, including France, executives feel overwhelmed by an exponential amount of data generated by their company and the market, which delays decision-making. This observation is even more detrimental considering that the number of decisions made by an executive has multiplied by 10 in the past three years.
In response to this challenge, 70% of executives regularly refrain from making data-driven decisions, which plunges the company into inertia. Additionally, 29% admit to relying solely on their intuition, risking biased decision-making.
Another study conducted by Full Story documents a similar issue in marketing and customer experience. Specifically:
- 73% of companies base their customer experience strategies on unverified assumptions and hypotheses;
- 62% of marketers say they “struggle to understand” their customers’ buying behaviour, values, and expectations;
- The majority of marketers surveyed state that the gap between the data needed to understand their market and the actual data they manage to collect is a major barrier to performance.
To conclude this assessment, Gartner estimates that field data influences only 53% of major marketing decisions.
Directly interrogating customers to source data
Not all industries lend themselves to collecting sufficiently structured data to develop a nuanced understanding of their customers. Moreover, not all companies have the means or have reached the necessary maturity stage to effectively utilize data.
Even for those capable of collecting data, online data typically only provides insights into specific operational areas, such as typical customer journeys, the success of landing pages, or website friction points.
Critical topics like customer expectations, brand perception, the impact of post-distribution communication campaigns, or company reputation cannot be adequately addressed solely through online customer behaviour data.
To gain unequivocal insights into these issues, it is crucial to create first-hand data by engaging directly with customers or prospects in the field. Interactions with sales and customer service teams can uncover general trends on these topics, but rigorous studies are necessary to generate structured and generalized data for informed decision-making
By posing relevant questions to a (more or less) representative sample of their target population, decision-makers rely on factual information presented intuitively.
Operational and strategic decisions alike are rationalized with reliable figures directly sourced from the field.
Conducting a Study: 4 major benefits and examples of use cases
1. Evaluating Company Awareness
This involves measuring how recognizable the company or brand is to consumers, with or without prompts. Such studies assess the effectiveness of communication campaigns and the overall presence of the brand in the market.
👉 Concrete use case
A software company specializing in management solutions for SMEs decides to assess its awareness among financial directors in the tech sector.
They conduct a study where participants are first asked about brands they spontaneously associate with management software (unaided awareness) and then presented with a list of brands to identify those they recognize (aided awareness).
The study reveals that only 15% of participants mention the brand spontaneously, but this number rises to 60% for aided awareness. These results may prompt the company to revise its communication strategy to increase visibility and awareness among its target audience.
2. Clarifying the image held by clients and prospects of the company
This process aims to understand how current and potential customers perceive the company, its products, and its services. The study covers positive and negative associations, values attributed to the brand, and expectations regarding quality, service, and ethical commitment, for example.
This information allows the company to align more closely with customer expectations, correct any misconceptions, and refine its communication to strengthen the positive aspects of its image.
👉 Concrete Use Case
A supermarket chain, recently certified by EcoVadis for its commitment to sustainability, wanted to assess the impact of this certification on its brand image among consumers.
The conducted study revealed that the majority of customers were unaware of this commitment, and the chain’s perception was still focused on pricing and product variety. Consequently, the company has decided to launch a CSR communication campaign.
3. Evaluating customer satisfaction levels
This approach involves collecting direct feedback from customers about their experiences with the company’s products or services. The goal is to measure their satisfaction levels, identify strengths, and pinpoint areas for improvement.
👉 Concrete use case
A fast-food chain conducts a study revealing high satisfaction levels regarding service speed but critiques the perceived freshness of ingredients used in salads. In response, the company initiates a partnership with a local supplier to ensure freshness and actively communicates this improvement to its customer base.
Three months later, another study is conducted to track satisfaction levels over time and evaluate the success of its initiative.
4. Evaluate the appeal of a target audience for a service concept
This type of study involves testing the interest and reaction of a target market towards a new product or service concept before its official launch. It helps validate the attractiveness of the offering, adjust its characteristics based on feedback from the target audience, and better predict the commercial success of the concept.
👉 Concrete use case
A startup plans to launch an online platform allowing construction companies to rent out their professional equipment during periods of inactivity.
Before developing the platform, the startup conducts a study with executives from construction companies to assess their interest in this service. Discussions reveal strong enthusiasm for the idea, which would enable them to generate additional revenue during uncertain times.
However, participants expressed concerns regarding equipment security, insurance, and transaction management ease. In response, the startup adjusts its upcoming communication campaign to emphasize these areas of concern.
Studies are often perceived as cumbersome and time-consuming setups.
To address this issue, we have developed a turnkey solution that allows you to gauge the evolution of your market on a specific topic quickly and easily.
The Flash Study is an online quantitative study that adapts to your budget and schedule.
In practical terms, you choose the number of questions that suit you (5, 10, 15 questions), and we swiftly survey a packaged sample of B2B or B2C respondents about your market, your company, or a trend in your B2B or B2C sector (between 150 to 200 respondents). The study can be completed in just 2 to 4 weeks. Learn more