Forming a deep understanding of the end-to-end customer experience is a powerful tool for developing a stronger competitive position. We live in an experience economy. Competitive advantage is difficult to come by. The low-hanging-fruit of innovation has been exploited already.

Journey Mapping can help you dive deep and find new territory for innovation.

Journey Mapping will put your team in the experience, giving them empathy for the customer, and compelling reasons to mobilize change.

Defining the scope

Our experience with Journey Mapping strongly supports defining the scope of a journey in customer terms, not company terms. The start of the journey begins before the customer touches your web site, your product, your staff or your stores. Extending our enquiry to the natural milestones customers experience often uncovers new territory for innovation, either before or after the traditional boundaries of the experience.

Customer journey studies are well served by hybrid research methods. We can bring in insights from many sources, including a Knowledge Harvest of previous research and public data. Employee Insights can help guide the development of the project, and also enlighten about internal processes and policies that impact the customer experience. Subject Matter Experts that are external to the company can often bring a different perspective as well. We can look at Competitive Intelligence Shops, Social Media Mining, and other tools to fill in specific parts of the picture.

Deep Discovery at the core

Regardless of the other tools selected, individual Deep Discovery Interviews are at the core of Journey Mapping. We want a one-on-one interaction with the customer for a couple of hours on the topic, so we can deeply probe into their experience.

High-definition video is an important part of the record keeping. As we work through these interviews, we will start to develop a rough journey map and test our ideas with customers. By the time fieldwork is done, we will know what the key Moments of Truth are.

Creating the Journey Map

Condensing dozens of ethnographic interviews into a one or two-page Journey Map is a major challenge of analysis. The map is the core deliverable of the project, but we provide full analysis of each Moment of Truth.

Journey Maps will show the stages of the journey in customer terms. At each stage, you will see what customers are doing, what they are thinking, how they are feeling, and what the overall experience is. Pain points and frustrations will be identified.

At this phase of analysis, we also assemble themed Video Vignettes from the many hours of video. For each Moment of Truth, we let the customers tell the story. This is a huge job for the research team, but crucial for your project. Only a few people will experience the customer interactions first hand, but everyone on the team can gain empathy from the video.

We can also work with you to facilitate working sessions to map out a Future Journey, identify and prioritize opportunities. Or our consultants can create an Ideal Journey, and the internal team can refine it.

The Web-Report and Archive

We offer clients a secure, web-based reporting format for multi-media projects. It’s a single archive that contains all project elements, including documents, graphics, and videos. Everyone from executives to the design team can dive a little or a lot into the detailed insights using the web report.Once you have a multi-media report, you will wonder how you ever lived with PowerPoint alone.

We’ll host the site for you during the project, and you can move it to your own internal servers on completion, where it will keep the insights alive.

Want more information? Please contact info@thinkglobalqualitative.com or info@abbottresearch.com or info@ikmarketing.de for more information about the projects or the methodologies discussed, or to arrange for a presentation.

When you launch in the marketplace, how will your competitors react? A facilitated war game is a way to (ethically) get inside the minds of your competitors and determine their most likely actions. It will energize your middle managers, it will improve your launch strategy, and you can do it in a one-day session with some advance planning.

Why we need to think like our competitors

We tend to assume steady-state markets when we plan. We assume that our new initiative will change our results, but we do not think much about competitor reactions. But markets are never still, they are constantly changing. If we make a big splash, there will be ripple effects.

The purpose of war games is to understand a third party. What is the competitor most likely to do based on their history, character, past behaviours, resources and goals? Having now analyzed the most likely move of the competitors, how might we change our own plans?

Who plays war games?

War games can be played with teams representing multiple competitors, or regulators or other stakeholders in the market. Each team is comprised of members of your own staff. The only external participants you would include would be trusted professionals such as agency representatives.

You will need three to eight people for each team. One team represents the Home team, plus each key competitor needs a team. You will want to include people who have been involved with the product under consideration, but also seek out independent and creative thinkers.

Each team gets a briefing kit

We make up a briefing kit for each team that has two components. It has the key facts and data about the industry, that may include tracking study or share information, key findings from consumer research, as well as an industry overview. Each team also receives key information about the competitor they are representing in the game – their history, culture, beliefs, philosophy, stated goals, and recent performance. The kits will be used to help the competitor teams get into character on the day of the games.

Flow of a war games event

We start the day with a short presentation from the launch team, who presents the launch strategy. Then the facilitators present a set of analytical frameworks that will be used by each team, and show them how to conduct their analysis.

Teams are sent to breakout rooms, where they work through the analysis framework. We also give them some help to start thinking the way the competitor thinks. When they come back, they will present answers to the key questions we have given them.

Each competitor team will present the results of their analysis and tell us how the competitor is most likely to respond to our launch. The Home team will also present, but their task is a little different: Their job is to find all the blind spots in the presented launch plan.

The rest of the day is spent developing a stronger launch plan based on the learning from the first sessions. Each team will present a revised plan to the group, and the other teams can challenge it. The strongest options are identified in discussion, and the game is then complete.

What comes out of a war games session?

Team members will have a lot of fun as they do the hard thinking that forms the essence of these games. A fresh perspective will be brought to bear on the launch strategy (or other challenge.) The revised plans will be more realistic and stress-tested without having to wait for the market response. More innovative thinking will come out of the discussions, as well as greater consensus around key themes and priorities for the launch.

After the games, people will continue to use the new ideas gained from the day. The launch team will take the output of the games back, and determine what ideas they will use. It’s fast, fun and an effective use of the team’s time.

Want more information? Please contact info@thinkglobalqualitative.com or info@ikmarketing.de or info@abbottresearch.com for more information about the projects or the methodologies discussed, or to arrange for a presentation.

Just as seasonings enhance the flavours of food, hybrid research designs can enhance the value and richness of insights. Hybrid research approaches also build validation of the insights, and reduce the risk of not hearing the consumer correctly. There are as many ways of building a hybrid design as there are ways of seasoning food! This article will help you navigate past the buzzwords, and see how to spice up your insights.

Definition of hybrid methodology

Hybrid methodology is also known as Bricolage, Triangulation or Mixed Methodology. All of these names refer to the combining or mixing of more than one methodology, approach or conceptual model, to investigate a particular problem or issue from different relevant angles or points of view. Mixing qualitative and quantitative is a common hybrid approach. For us as qualitative specialists, hybrid refers to bringing together a mix of different qualitative methodologies involving individual or group interaction as well as in-person or digital methodologies. Hybrid qualitative can also bring together different target markets, stakeholders, or even expert opinion in our project design.

The use of different methodologies and involving different target segments and stakeholders, results in verification and comparison of the results from the different components of the research. The research team can use this rich data to produce a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of the research challenge.

The value of hybrid design: get closer to reality

The main advantage of hybrid research design is that it yields richer data and enables the research team to layer their experience and enhance their understanding. This produces better insights and more in-depth learning for the research and client team.

The multi-disciplinary approach also helps the team get as close as possible to reality. The mixing of methods relies not only on reported behaviour and recall of actions and decisions, but also endeavors to get closer to observing actual behaviour and evidence of attitudes.

We find that the versatility of the approach is more interesting and fun for participants leading to higher levels of engagement and involvement.

Hybrid methodology allows the voice of the consumer to be heard.

Hybrid methodology confirms the value of the Gestalt theory that the end result is more than the sum of the individual parts as it offers insight into the holistic ‘bigger picture.’

Examples of hybrid projects

The associates of Think Global Qualitative believe in the value of hybrid design and many of our most impactful and innovative projects have used this approach. Some examples of projects that we have been involved in either as a global network or individual consultants, have included:

• A global study with dog owners in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Mexico, South Africa, UK, and USA which utilized a combination of digital methodologies including individual smartphone diaries to immerse into the lives of dogs and their owners, an online discussion forum and, finally, co-creation to develop new solutions for common problems identified during the research
• Understanding the aspirations, values, lifestyle, interests and social behaviour of millennial wine drinkers using a combination of digital and in-person methods, namely mobile journal, social media listening and in-person group discussions
• A multi-stage mini-community followed the journey of a start-up experience business over a period of nine months, including self-ethnography, usability testing of website, ‘test-driving’ product concept and follow-up discussions between project stages
• Exploring attitudes of young people around the world towards climate change, combining quantitative and qualitative digital methods and social media research ‘cloud listening’
• Finding deep insights into belief systems and the customer journey of borrowers. Multi-stage phased approach involving consumers and other stakeholders. Combined knowledge harvest synthesized all available data on the topic, executive interviews, webcam ‘selfie’ videos, mystery shopping, frontline staff interviews, more in-depth interviews and resulted in integrated reporting in the format of a customer journey map and interactive web report

Want more information? This brief article provides just a few of the highlights of our approach and work. Please contact info@thinkglobalqualitative.com for more information about the projects or the methodologies discussed, or to arrange for a presentation.

There’s no cure-all method to remedy company crises, but there are things we can do as market researchers to help clients uncover and manage their key brand assets and protect themselves against damage done during a PR brand crisis.

Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich are gone.

If you don’t prepare, you will incur more damage. We have often found there is a failure to address the many communications issues related to crisis/disaster response.

And this is where social network analysis comes in handy!

Continue reading this article as a PDF: Helping your Corporate Clients Develop a Contingency Plan During a Brand Crisis

Customer experience or CX is not just a buzzword, it’s an approach that can win new customers, slash churn and turn customers into evangelists. Companies that don’t utilize the customer experience perspective may be putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

In a nutshell, companies that adopt the customer experience perspective look closely at the different ways customers interact with their company and customize the ways they market to those types of customers – as well as the ways they provide their products or services – accordingly. It boils down to understanding what different customers want so that you can make them feel special. That makes them more likely to choose the company, keep coming back, and tell all their friends.

An example

I’ll use a personal example to illustrate how it works. Recently, my auto mechanic told me I needed new tires. Getting new tires is not something I look forward to. I don’t know how to choose which tires to buy, they always sound overpriced, but of course I don’t want to get tires that won’t be safe … and then you have to sit around in a dirty, depressing waiting room while they put them on.

I asked my mechanic where he recommended getting tires, and he mentioned America’s Tire. When I checked out their website, it gave me the option to put in the make and model of my car, then gave me a list of tires they had that would work for my car, along with prices and customer reviews for each tire.

I was then given the option to make an appointment online. I made the appointment, and printed out the information. When I walked in the next morning with the piece of paper, a man said to me “You must be Jay.” I was surprised.

He said “My name is Josh, I’m the manager here. We’ll get those tires put on for you and since you have an appointment, they can get started immediately. We’ll be done in 45 minutes.”

As you can imagine, I was really impressed by them. This was nothing like what I had experienced in the past. So, a month later, when I got a nail in one of the tires, of course, I went back there.

When I came to pick up the car, I fully expected to pay for the flat tire fix. But no, it turns out that, because I’m a customer, they fix flat tires for free. Not only that, when I later a had a flat on my other car, which did not have their tires, they fixed that for free too, just because I’m their customer.

And they send me emails reminding me when it’s time to check the air pressure or have the tires rotated, which they also do for free. You can imagine I’m telling everyone about this. Now, when I need tires, I don’t check anywhere else, I just go directly to America’s Tire.

Note that the above example isn’t just about good customer service; they also have systems in place that ensure a good experience, even for customers like me, who don’t know a thing about tires. And for people who prefer to make an appointment online, rather than calling in.

They also differentiate themselves by providing free extras that don’t cost them a lot, but which make customers happy. In fact, this might be an example where “delight the customer” is more than a platitude!

Implement a CX program at your company

So how do you implement a CX program at your company? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Define your customer segments. To do this, talk to your customers (consider interviews and focus groups), and don’t forget the wealth of information you have in your existing purchase data and website analytics, as well as what people are saying about your category on social media. What you’re looking for are different types of people that interact with the company in different ways.

Step 2: Develop a “customer journey map” for each type of customer. Look at each customer segment. How do they decide to come to you? What are their most important touch points with the company? What makes them really happy? Also, pay attention to their bad experiences, whether with you or with your competition. Is there some way to turn that around and provide the opposite experience?

Step 3: Take that information and use it to come up with ways to make each type of customer feel valued and special. Look for ways to recognize customers by name so they know they’re not “just another customer.” And look for opportunities to reward customers so they feel they are getting something extra, a bonus.

Understand your customers and make a personal human connection with them and they’ll reward you with loyalty and great word-of-mouth. It’s worth the effort!

A conference panel can either be the highlight of the day, or a yawn-fest with a room full of people checking their handhelds.

What a shame that so often these bright and accomplished individuals are not showcased better. From my point of view, it’s all about the moderation. I’ve had some success moderating panels, and I’m here to share my Top 10 Tips.

#1 Be clear about your objectives

As a moderator, my objective is to hold a stimulating conversation that the audience can listen in on, that makes the speakers look like rock stars and keeps the audience riveted to the conversation. My plan for the session is totally geared toward that objective. And I tell the audience a version of this objective, to publicly set the stage.

If you are planning to have a conference panel, know what you are striving for, or you are doomed to mediocrity before you start.

#2 Find a nice non-moderator role for the sponsors

Executives at the sponsor companies may wish to moderate your panel. This is generally not a good idea, for the reasons outlined in #10.

Instead, you can give them a place on the panel. Or you can let them introduce the session, or introduce the panel members.

#3 Keep the introductions short

People hate introductions that are more than a sentence or two long. When you have three or four people to introduce, it’s painful. If your panelists are well known, a lengthy introduction is even more of a waste. The more well-known the individual, the less we need to hear. Consider how long an introduction needs to be for Mick Jagger, Angela Merkel or Bill Gates? What about the Pope?

If you don’t happen to be well-known, a lengthy introduction is worse, because no one cares. Far better to showcase people actually being interesting, and let attendees look them up in the program or online.

#4 Prepare, prepare, prepare

As the moderator, I plan to spend several hours preparing. This would include reading current information on the subject of the panel, in order to suggest timely topics.

I also try to learn more about the individual panelists. It’s nice to talk to them in advance if possible, in part to put them at ease, and also to get a sense of their individual style. This may only be possible a short time before the panel, such as at a reception or even breakfast the day of the event.

Executives generally want to know in advance the types of questions you will be asking them. They want to be assured you don’t plan to buttonhole them on something controversial, or something they can’t answer, such as matters before regulatory bodies, matters covered by securities regulations, pricing, new product announcements, or secret sauce ingredients.

It’s a good idea to have more content than you can cover in the allotted time. You don’t want to be thinking up topics on the spot — far better to throw away material you don’t have time for.

#5 Start with the most interesting topics

The opener needs to be some kind of short statement about the current landscape from the panelists’ point of view. But then move quickly into the most interesting content. Is some new economy player challenging the industry, like Google, Apple or Uber? Why wait to discuss it? In fact, one of your panelists will likely mention this subject in their first breath, making it easy for you to pick up on the topic with a followup question.

If a topic you plan to ask about comes up, that’s the perfect time to ask about it. Saying: “I’m going to ask about that later” is energy-draining. Instead, if you must, say: “Fascinating, and let’s come back to that in a moment. But before we leave this exciting topic, can you just tell us your thoughts about ….”

# 6 Encourage conversation; avoid serial interviewing

You want the panelists engaged with each other, not waiting for your next question. It’s a good idea to tell them this up front. It’s also a good idea to invite them to redirect a question they think is better answered by a different panelist. All of this keeps the conversation lively for the audience.

Decide which panelists will have the most interesting take on a topic, and direct a question to one or two of them at most. If you want everyone to answer the topic, be sure to restate it as you go along, drawing on what was said before.

For example: If the original question was about the impact of new technologies on the widget industry, when you come to the third panelist, you can simply restate. “Bob says there has been a devastating impact, while Julia says the biggest challenges are for smaller players. What’s your take on this topic? Are we all doomed, or is it just the smallest firms? Who should be worried?”

If everyone seems to agree on something, there’s little to discuss. Having multiple panelists say the same thing is just dull.

Under no circumstances should you get into anything that sounds like: “On to Question 3. Let’s start with Jill this time. Blah, blah, blah.”

#7 No slides, no tables

If the presenters are using slides, you are not having a conversation. It’s not a panel, it’s a collection of short presentations. Main-stage panels just should not have slides. If there is something that absolutely, positively must have a visual, keep it under the moderator’s control if possible. Or the AV team at the back of the room. One slide, show it, then kill it.

I also dislike having people seated at a table, which puts distance between the audience and the group. It also means you cannot sit in a semi-circle. A group of chairs is a much better idea. Bar-chairs that put people up a little higher can work really well.

A moderator at a podium is not facilitating a conversation, they will inevitably hold a serial interview. So no podium, except possibly for the person introducing the session.

#8 Handling questions from the floor

Audiences need time to formulate a question, so I plan a question of my own to avoid dead air time and give the audience a chance to think. It’s a good idea to restate the question so that everyone knows what was asked.

If you have someone with a roving microphone, encourage them to hang on to it, not give it away to an audience member. This is a good way to discourage speechifying under the guise of a question.

Your moderator role doesn’t stop at this point. If the attendee did not direct the question to a specific person, you need to manage that. You might also ask an obvious follow-up question.

#9 Keep it fresh and a little off balance

Have one or two quirky questions, or at least fresh wording for the topic. If the topic is industry disruption, ask who should be refreshing their resume? If the topic is networking, ask about their biggest networking mistake.

Executives on panels can be good at surfing past a topic they don’t want to discuss by sticking to their media lines, as they have seen politicians do many times. Try not to accept this as the final word on a topic, while stopping short of acting like a criminal prosecutor. Gentle humor can be your friend here. The audience will appreciate that you are trying to go deeper on a topic.

#10 Get a skilled moderator

Few people have this skill. I have confirmed this personally from many hours of boredom at conferences, and I bet you have, too.

There are a few options for getting a great panel moderator, if you don’t happen to be one yourself.

• Professional qualitative researchers are often good at this because they are used to carefully planning a spontaneous conversation
• People who speak for a living are often good at this, because they are accustomed to carefully engineering an experience from the stage
• Professional facilitators are also used to creating carefully structured events where other people do most of the talking
• Other professional interviewers, such as radio or television personalities

None of this is a guarantee, but these groups have the right set of professional skills. Most random executives do not.

If you can find one of these people who also has some knowledge of the content under discussion, you are in great shape. If they aren’t conversant with the subject matter, you can brief them on the hot topics of the day much more easily than you can teach someone how to moderate.

Fortunately, there are likely to be qualitative researchers and facilitators who have worked frequently in your industry, so you should be able to find someone who fits this requirement.

Now go out there and surprise people with your fantastic panel!