Insights: Does It Mean What You Think It Means?

The Princess Bride is considered by many one of the greatest, and perhaps most undervalued, movies of all time. While people hear the title and think it is just another rom-com, the film is anything but, with witchcraft, pirates, the world’s strongest man, quicksand, wild boars, shock therapy, sword fighting, six-fingered men, and the revenge business.

As misunderstood as the use of the term “inconceivable” is throughout the film, is the use of “insights” in the business realm. Many people around the world use the term insights in a way that does neither the word nor what’s possible from the word justice.

Have you ever stopped to think about what the word “insights” actually means? It’s not just a statistic on a slide deck.

Defining an “insight”

There are numerous ways you could view or seek to describe an insight. In general, insight is “the ability to understand people and situations in a very clear way”.

From a consumer perspective, insights help organizations reveal why customers behave in certain ways based on variables and factors, such as brand perception, relevant marketing messages, etc. From a market perspective, insights are the discovery of a relevant, actionable, and previously unrealized reality about a target market as a result of deep, subjective data analysis.

Insights are what market researchers seek, every day. But insights without action are essentially meaningless (one could even argue inconceivable). Many people in the industry talk about using insights for better decision-making, but it is the actions taken that create real value. You don’t just need a Buttercup (Robin Wright) to ask for actions to be taken, you also need a Wesley (Carey Elwes) to carry out the, “As you wish”.

Are market researchers wielding insights effectively?

Traditionally, market research data and insights have been placed firmly in the camp of the data analyst or researcher (or agency). Tasked with generating static crosstabs or PowerPoint decks to convey their findings to stakeholders across the company, these teams spend most of their time manually creating reports that may or may not be used, or that may or may not be out-of-date by the time they reach everyone else’s desks.

This is inefficient and doesn’t provide any real insight after all, let alone drive positive action across a company. However, this process is baked into existing workflows and even though many agree with its inefficiencies, breaking this pattern is difficult.

If market research is tasked with generating understanding, that understanding needs to be easily accessible, democratized, and holistic. Stakeholders throughout an organization need to be able to gain a first-hand understanding of what’s going on with their customers, with their competitor’s customers, with their products, as well as what target audiences are doing, with whom they do it, how they do it, and more.

If you’re using tables and tables and more tables to communicate your findings, it’s highly likely you’re already behind. In our fast-paced landscape, action based on outdated or static data is risky and not truly insight-driven because the context in which that data was collected could well have changed.

Moving past data silos in insights

The challenge of moving forward at the speed modern businesses require is not too dissimilar to one that Iñigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) faced at the end of The Princess Bride. Montoya had spent his whole life working in the revenge business, and once his line of work was no longer required, he struggled to comprehend what to do with the rest of his life.

For market researchers, the prospect of using new technologies can trigger similar existential thoughts, since adopting software tools can come with the perception of potentially making one’s job obsolete. However, it couldn’t be further from the truth. From a job security perspective, insights professionals become the enabler of unlocking value from data, which does require some change.

Breaking free of traditional workflows and data “ownership” silos in the industry is possible, and is a task that shouldn’t be done alone. Wesley, Montoya, Fezzik (Andre the Giant), Buttercup, and to an extent Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), worked as a team, pooling their talent, time, and expertise to bring about the desired outcome. It’s the same with market research, which spans not just insights professionals, but other stakeholders in the business, suppliers, vendors, and respondents all working as one.

The unmet needs of insights professionals

Throughout the 32 years that we’ve been working exclusively in the market research industry, we have partnered with many of the world’s biggest brands to help them discover and then translate insights into actions. Over this time, we’ve seen how the sector is not only processing market research data more efficiently, but also sharing that data in more dynamic ways. Additionally, we used to have conversations with people and ask them to imagine how it would be if a company leader could ask a question that could be answered immediately, using the latest data. The follow-up would be to get them to envision a company leader who could access the data to answer the question themselves.

Gaining understanding from personal discovery is far more powerful than one shared by someone else. And the best thing about this is that we’re no longer asking people to imagine this, people are now either doing this or overtly seeking such a tool for their organization. The two main insight-specific functionalities market researchers are wanting in a tool seem to be:

1. Interactive, up-to-date data reporting
   Things are moving faster than ever. Consumer behavior and sentiment are changing by the day, driven in part by the massive shifts wrought by the pandemic. Businesses are pivoting to remain relevant. Static reports aren’t going to generate the understanding needed to act quickly. Technology that allows instant access to the most engaging and interactive visualizations of your data can give a more holistic view.Picture a cloud-based approach that ingests all the latest data, letting new data flow through the entire system, to automatically design, organize and update dynamic reporting dashboards. You can breathe a sigh of relief that the data is current, easily accessible, and understandable, and it is more likely to be used in business actions. This improves value in every way possible.
2. Permissioned sharing
   To future-proof the market research function at any company, you simply must get the data into the hands of the people who will be using it to take action. This can seem scary to those who typically hold the reins when it comes to data and insights. They may ask themselves, where do I fit in if my client/boss/company stakeholder can access the data directly?There is still a clear place for data expertise, no matter what. Researchers and analysts understand what to do with the data in the first place. And with the right technology, others can access the data in a permissioned environment, helping to give control over who sees what. It is that direct, instant access to the data that will really underscore the value of market research in an era of DIY and immediacy.

Moving forward, remember the purpose of insights

If the past two years of uncertainty have taught us anything in the market research industry, it is that people are hungry for data. As consumer behavior and business landscapes continue to transform, leaders are looking to insights to help guide actions. And that data needs to be completely up-to-date, completely accessible, and able to guide actions, every step of the way.

Deep down, it’s likely we could all acknowledge that we can no longer rely on outdated ways of doing things. As a generalization, it’s fair to say that we each started out in the profession with the best of intentions – we were just like the ever-doting Wesley, doing all we could with passion and energy, as market researchers for the business. However, the inevitable pressures of work and home life, changing consumer behavior, and new technologies distracted us from our primary purpose.

That’s why we should never forget to remember the real role of insights: to generate understanding that results in positive business actions. Doing this today requires a new, collaborative approach – one that meets new expectations and demands across organizations. When we get it right, we’re all better served and can have our happily ever after, just like Wesley and Buttercup, which means using one particular word for all its worth and glory: insights.