Quirks Award Winner: B2B Customer Journey Mapping - How NAED Uncovered $2 - $4 Billion Annually For Its Members

Immediate pain:

The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) members had no published baseline for the product data journey—from manufacturer to customer—resulting in inconsistent practices that were harming efficiency and profitability.

Erika TenEyck, Director of Business Intelligence Programs & Insights, leading this initiative at NAED, needed to make a complex problem relatable and solvable: companies vary widely by type, size and maturity in how they develop, integrate, maintain and sunset product data, and many struggle to see where systems should sit in that flow. In short, members lacked a clear data journey map and reliable KPIs to prioritize fixes.

Partnering with Gold Research was triggered by this urgent need to establish an industry benchmark. The stakes were tangible: without a formal baseline, NAED could not reliably identify low-hanging fruit, recommend process changes, or quantify opportunities to boost member profitability and operational efficiency.

Core question: How can NAED define and publish a clear, actionable product data baseline that reveals immediate improvement opportunities and informs longer-term strategies for product data management?

Differentiator:

The project was led by our dedicated Chief Journey Mapper, Greg Tucker, who worked with an NAED task force—making journey mapping the core proprietary approach to profile the product data journey across manufacturers, reps, distributors, and customers.

Process:

First, NAED led by Erika TenEyck, convened a core task force of industry experts to guide scope and maintain continuity.

Then Gold Research conducted extensive qualitative research via virtual interviews using an approved discussion guide with manufacturers, distributors, reps, customers, non-members, and external experts.

Finally, the team applied analytical techniques—factor analysis, gap analysis, and Importance x Performance matrices—on the large sample to produce granular maturity and practice profiles by company size, industry, and user segment.

Uncovered estimated annual cost of poor product data management: $2 - $4 billion for electrical distributors.

1. 5 prioritized recommendations for manufacturers and distributors to drive immediate action.
2. Polished product data journey map that engaged manufacturer and distributor leaders.
3. KPIs established to monitor progress and measure results.

Impact:

These findings let decision-makers prioritize fixes that reduce friction in the product data journey, protect e-commerce revenue, and focus investments where they deliver the highest return.

Testimonial:

This study brought to light the importance of precise product data and underscored its importance in members gaining operational efficiency, enhancing customer experiences, and increasing sales. We look forward to sharing more on the impact of product data with another follow-up study with Gold Research. - Erika TenEyck, Director of Business Intelligence Programs & Insights, NAED.

FAQ

1. How quickly were results delivered? 90 days.
2. What was the ROI? The project quantified the potential annual cost exposure ($2–$4B) to prioritize interventions.