Agile, customer-led product development amid the challenges of the last month 12 months has been all but impossible. With connecting to consumers being harder than ever, many in the R&D world have struggled, and a lack of traditional research methods such as focus groups has put product development and launch very much on the back burner.
Overwhelmingly, our global research communities have told us they want to be involved in the product development phase: 88% of our global users said they want to be included in the decisions brands make, 76% said they enjoy helping product development processes, and 86% said that products developed using consumer collaboration were better.
So, with this transition to an increasingly online and remote world, how can your brand connect with your audiences, bake online customer communities into your model and embrace the changing face of consumer insight? Here’s our five-step guide…
1) Online customer communities: The time is now
With millions of people tuned in online – and with more time on their hands than ever – now is the perfect moment to take advantage of consumer insights. When 84% of those surveyed told us they prefer online focus groups to in-person ones, your audience has never been so receptive to providing you virtual feedback.
Building an online consumer community will allow you to unlock the power of your buyers, helping you to understand their wants and needs and giving you actionable insights. When navigating the challenges of product development in a pandemic, your digital research communities can develop ideas for your business, ensuring customer-centric plans and customer satisfaction.
“Businesses listening to their customers makes us feel appreciated and more likely to stay involved with the brand”
Bulbshare user, Female, 28, 🇬🇧
"It is much easier to connect via an online site rather than travelling to a particular location and spending half the day there. Also, being a shy person, I am more likely to give an honest opinion online without being concerned about what others may think about my opinion or being influenced by the majority”
Bulbshare user, Female, 57 🇨🇦
“I enjoy having the ability to give my opinions and shape the brand’s future products”
Bulbshare user, Female, 54 🇬🇧
“It’s inspiring that my opinion contributes to something important”
Bulbshare user, Female, 24 🇺🇸
2) Connect with always-on relationships for rapid turnaround insights
One of the key advantages of digital communities – as opposed to in-person focus groups – is the sheer ease and speed of turnaround. Not only are they more convenient for your consumers, they are more convenient for your brand too! Unlike in-person focus groups, you can access customer insight at any time with an always-on, mobile research community. Bulbshare’s work with consumer goods giants, Kimberly Clark, around the attitudes and behaviours of young Russian women towards feminine hygiene products, is a case in point. Bulbshare built a community of 600 Russian women who tested products via physical samples and through in-app concept-test heatmapping – gaining insight around key attributes, user-experience and packaging. We also conducted online ideation workshops allowing us to speed-test design concepts for ultra-fast turnaround insight. Discover more about how our real-time insights helped Kimberly Clark to be agile and customer-led here.
“I’m always online, especially these days!”
Bulbshare user, Female, 19 🇦🇺
“Online focus groups are so much more convenient and environmentally friendly as there is no need to travel.”
Bulbshare user, female, 54 🇫🇷
“Online market research is more accessible and safer during Covid”
Bulbshare user, Female, 53 🇲🇾
3) Target segments within those digital communities
Use technology which allows you to segment your digital communities into specific demographics in order to target separate customer groups. Bulbshare’s customer community technology allows for the auto-tagging and targeting of niche segments based on granular demographics around attitude and behaviour, buying patterns, tastes and interests – as well as core themes like age, gender and region. Responses can then be easily analysed based on these breakdowns.
“Companies need input from a wide cross-section of society so they have mass market appeal. That process begins in the early stages of development, and I think I can offer opinions that may benefit the company and the product.”
Bulbshare user, Male, 40 🇨🇦
4) Video: The Holy Grail
The ‘holy grail of insights’, video allows your users to create unique and in depth qualitative content – showcasing attitudinal responses in an infinitely more nuanced way. The opportunity to use video enables creativity in your users and introduces you to your customers on a more personal level. Our Customer Connect tool enables remote, online workshops, while our media-capture functionality means your user-communities can upload thousands of images and videos on a daily basis. Bulbshare also utilises AI for auto video response analysis that includes sentiment and key word tracking, as well as auto-translation on foreign language responses.
“It’s fun to give my opinions about new products, especially when I can upload a picture or a video”
Bulbshare user, Male, 33 🇺🇸
5) Heatmap concepts… At scale
Empower your customer communties to feedback on your products at scale through virtual product testing technology. Our image-highlighting function allows users to interact with products through their phone; they are able to comment on what they like and dislike about the product, which is then turned into a heat map of the zones that attracted the most interest. Their comments can be filtered via key sentiments, allowing you to turn emotional reactions into hard data.
“The customer is the boss - we pay for the products or services, so we should be listened to”
Bulbshare user, Male, 46 🇬🇧
“Products developed with customers in mind are better because the consumers can come up with ideas the brand hasn't thought of to improve their product!”
Bulbshare user, Female, 56 🇦🇺
To super że firmy dzialaj w oparcie o opinie i zdanie konsumentów i korzystają z tej formy w czasie pandemii
Bardzo mnie cieszy ze firmy slysza moj glos i biora go pod uwage,
I think it’s an amazing opportunity to share my opinion and feel.valued.
Hola! I’ve been following your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Atascocita Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the excellent job!