Getting the right product to market is a wicked problem. While you might know all of the characteristics that make a great product, delivering the right combination is never easy. In reality, success is more than a simple combination of features and benefits.  There is the human side to development, as people don’t always use products exactly as we intended.  In fact, they can react in unexpected ways to their sensory experience in context. So how do you solve these kinds of problems?

Johnsonville recently hooked agile qualitative technology into their In-home Usage Testing (IHUT) process, which enabled them to capture video experiences and engage in follow-ups with participants to delve deeper into how to deliver an optimal solution. And they got some surprising results.   

Succeeding in today’s constantly evolving consumer landscape starts with being able to move quickly and use data to make the best decisions. This is why more and more organizations are taking an agile approach to just about everything from innovation, to marketing, to research and customer experience design. In this post, we will explore the skills you need to cultivate in your consumer insights teams to support agile development.

Agile organizations enjoy several benefits—like moving quickly, making better decisions, and responding to market changes faster. But what exactly does market research look like in an agile organization?

Thanks to mobile devices, social media, and e-commerce platforms, we all know how seamless the modern digital experience can be—to the point we’ve grown to expect that’s how they should be. In the financial services industry, startups like Acorns, Robinhood, Betterment, and Wealthfront have emerged as digital-first operations. These companies are built from the ground up to focus on stronger customer experience (CX). That starts with being easier to use, intuitive, reliable, and helpful. But true magic came by building new, innovative experiences that deliver even more value.

Jeff Bezos recently proclaimed that market research isn’t really helpful. In his letter to Amazon shareholders, he denounced the merits of market research—which surprised many given the company’s reliance on data-informed decision making. From my perspective, he is spectacularly wrong; even if there are nuggets of truth in his commentary. While Bezos’ sentiment may have a little bit of truth in it—the bulk of your customers can’t imagine products that haven’t yet been invented—market research still plays a critically important role at successful organizations, including Amazon.

Thanks to new research approaches, all companies—even those with storied histories—can innovate as quickly as startups, leveraging consumer insights to inform the best way forward.