Why we use conversations, not interviews, to drive insights.

More flexibility leads to better insights for brands and businesses.

The single best way to gain insights into your customer, and your potential customers, is to talk to them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that enterprises big or small ask customers what they want. But I am advocating for them to think of their customer as the treasure trove of insights that they are.

Over the course of my career, starting at Netflix, I have been fortunate to learn what real consumer research actually is and why it is important. When done well, it provides the insights that can move mountains.

The problem most folks run into though is that they have a vested interest in the results. This means, without even knowing it, they tend to seek validation — rather than insights. The good news is that there are ways to escape the gravitational pull of validation.

Trust the process

If you’d asked me when I left Netflix, I would’ve said that consumer research is great for just that — consumer research. But one of the most interesting things that I’ve learned since is that it can be applied to nearly anything. From brand positioning to messaging for an NGO to gaining adoption of an open-source software…