Blog Post

Wisdom of the Crowd

3 minutes

Do you ever wish you could read your customer’s minds? Turns out, there’s actually a way to do this! You’ve probably heard of it before—this beautiful thing called market research. For those of you unfamiliar with market research, it is the process of determining the viability of a product or service through research conducted by interacting directly with the customer base. The best part about market research? This tool doesn’t discriminate! It’s for everyone! And we are all about inclusion here at Rule29!

Not sure research would be a tool you would ever use? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation to one of these three (of many) scenarios:

Example #1- Your company is about to launch a new product. What will potential customers think about how it functions? What price would they purchase it for? What will they think about packaging? If only there was a way to read their minds…

Example #2- Your company is going through an internal re-brand, to boost employee morale. All of sudden, your own company is your target market. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could get your team’s honest opinions of how onboarding works or if they feel leadership shows their appreciation?

Example #3- This is the BIG ONE. Your company is going through a full rebrand. Wow. Now your customers, your suppliers, AND your team are alllllll a part of your market. How do you get inside their head?

That’s where market research comes in. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, you can gain the wisdom of the crowd. Surveys are the quickest, lowest-commitment a participant can commit to. We use surveys to reach large numbers of people or when we are asking a very specific question to gather quantitative data (that means it usually involves numbers). For example, surveys would be a great option to reach a large number of potential audience members about a packaging style for a new product. Surveys would also be great to gather employees’ thoughts and opinions anonymously.

Qualitative data, all the nebulous, non-numerical data that most people both love and hate, is gathered with focus groups and in-depth interviews, or IDIs around Rule29. Focus groups are basically the brainstorming sessions you went through when your company started the project you are now working on. We put 6-10 people in a room and listen to them talk. (That sounds a little weird, but it’s actually a lot of fun! Cross our hearts.) We like to use focus groups to hear the thoughts of team members who have been working on a new product, for example. Individually, they may not have a lot to say about what they hope the new logo looks like, but when you put them together, they start to build on each other’s ideas!

Interviews give us the most in-depth insight. We sit down and talk to a person in your market who will directly interact with your project and pick their brain about your company and the project at hand. We often feel a bit like a priest taking confessionals during these in-person sessions, but let’s be honest, priests hear all the best stuff. Stuff that can help your company excel with your project or initiative. IDIs can hard because they have a tendency to get kinda personal, which is why it is many times best to bring in a third party (like Rule29) to conduct them. When the interviewees feel safe, in-depth interviews can give some of the most valuable information.