A Market Research Fairy Tale

Imagine a land where a certain class of people live apart from the rest, never experiencing what others feel, but being held ultimately responsible for the happiness and satisfaction of the majority nevertheless.

Imagine that also in this land are ambassadors. Their job is to describe as accurately as possible to those who live apart, what life is like outside the walls of the confinement. For this purpose, the ambassadors seek to immerse those who live apart in messages that present the words, images and stories of the many. But these messages must be carefully wrought, as those who live apart have no time to waste.

You see, those who live apart are vexed by endless, daily demands for Decisions to be made. However – and sadly – such time pressure is unavoidable, for those who live apart are the only ones in the land who can Decide.  And there are many big, important Decisions to be made every day.

Furthermore, those who live apart are fully aware of the catastrophic consequences that could result should they Decide incorrectly.

For this reason, they rely on the ambassadors’ words, images and stories to guide them toward the most beneficial Decisions.  The ambassadors have access to fewer shiny tools than they would like, but the amount is nevertheless sufficient to ensure that their counsel is both accurate and wise.

As a market researcher, do you view yourself as an ambassador bridging the span between your company’s senior leadership team and your customers?  On an average day, how often do you think about the importance of your work to the success of your company?

Your ability to bring your customers’ experiences and attitudes to those in the C-Suite empowers them to make better, more customer-centric decisions.

Your ability to bring pain points in the customer experience to the attention of your company’s leadership could create a best-in-class experience for your customers.

Yes, most of this story is a fairy tale.  However, the potential to improve the customer experience that you, market researcher, bring to your company’s customers…couldn’t be more real.

Laurie Bredenfoerder, MBA, PRC is a veteran independent qualitative market research consultant based in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She holds a B.S. in Journalism from Bowling Green State University, an MBA from Xavier University, and a Professional Researcher Certification from the Insights Association.  Laurie is a board member of the Insights Association’s Great Lakes Chapter, a national committee chairperson for the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, a wife, and a proud mother of a wonderful son. Reach her by email: bvalley@fuse.net