3 core research projects you should start now for a strong start on your next wave
Win/Loss Analysis
Institute a structured program to collect feedback from customers/prospects that tells you what you’re doing right or wrong
- Create a template and a regular process for collecting feedback
- Works for both B2B (won/lost contracts) and for B2C (won/lost consumers)
- Tells you: Specific things you can do to improve results
Trend Discovery
Conduct some quick research activities to see where things are headed so you start the year with fresh perspective
- Conduct trend-finding focus groups during fall/winter conferences, and/or conduct quick online surveys to reach decision makers/influencers
- Examine the broad trends, not just your product
- Tells you: The important political/regulatory/legal, economic, social, technological issues that will impact your customers and your business in the near future
Competitive Intelligence
Gather insights about what your competition is doing so you can plan your response
- Execute product-use surveys to get customer evaluations of competitive offerings & claims, and to gather news of what competitors are announcing to customers
- Use targeted online ad buys to drive competitor customers to your survey
- Tells you: What competitive drivers you should focus on
The goal is to consistently know more than everyone else- with data in your pocket and able to support your decisions about what to do next