“People matter” was a theme at Quirk’s London for one attendee

Attendee finds a theme of “people matter” during sessions at Quirks London.

Editor’s note: This is an edited version that originally appeared under the title “7 Ways End Client Researcher Put People at the Center, Straight from Quirks London!” Annie Pettit, chief research officer, E2E Research, New York.   

What does it mean to be people focused? 

I met my E2E Research colleagues in person for the first time ever at the Quirks Event in London. Turns out, Rupa Raje and Yogesh Rana are real human beings with 3D smiles and great hugs. It was a very different experience after a year of virtual meetings on Zoom and Teams with nary a handshake. 

After reflecting on some of the sessions I attended at the Quirks Event in London, I realized the human thread continued there too. Whether I listened to a case study about pricing or heard someone speak passionately about sustainability and environmentalism, it’s clear that researchers have evolved to a point where they know people are no longer robots that dispense data points. And when I say people, I don’t mean simply research participants!  

Stakeholders are people. 

As David Watts, insight lead at Virgin media O2, Jonathan Stone, director at Incite Marketing Planning, and Dan Cooper, principal at Incite Marketing Planning explained, a human-centric approach to research means researchers and marketers realize they exist to serve others – both research participants and stakeholders. In order to have faith in the work and champion the outcomes, stakeholders need to know  they are truly heard right from the beginning of a research study. And this concludes by presenting the final research results as stories, so stakeholders feel a connection to the results they need to champion. For research participants, it means understanding that people have personal goals, lives and internal and external constraints, including finances, community, kids and family that researchers need to respect and accommodate. 

Employees are people too.

Ellie Inman, consumer closeness lead (John Lewis & Partners) described the Customer Closeness Program which is designed to ensure stakeholders take a more active role in understanding their customers. This program puts people first and strives to ensure employees understand the functional and emotional needs of their customers and lean into the most important life moments. For them, closeness is illuminating, feeling, instinctive, fuels decisions and involves direct firsthand seeing and hearing of memorable stories that enhance understanding and drive confidence in decisions. It even includes democratizing the research so any employee in any department can review research results –  in fact, this program requires all new employees to engage with research results. 

Researchers are also people.

Building a community panel is a great way to speak directly to your consumers. As Kate Downer, director, research at Verve and Lori Beck, global insights lead – mobility products (fuels and e-mobility) at Shell International Petroleum Company explained, it takes lot of effort to find and engage with the right people so you need to do whatever you can to encourage them to stay. And that includes being honest with them about what you need and how often you need it. Remember you are a person too so don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the community in a more human way with a personal video. And, let the community have side conversations that aren’t precisely related to the research topic. They deserve to get as much out of the community as you do. 

People matter more than numbers.

Jan Worsley, consumer insights director at Carnival Cruise Line, and James Wycherley, CEO at Insight Management Academy, shared that engaging with people is more important than the numbers. A well-written report full of charts and data won’t accomplish anything if your stakeholders don’t read it, engage with it and internalize the results. This means remembering that people aren’t just calculators, and a report needs to be intriguing and humorous! 

People want to feel your brand.

For some people, having and sharing a brand purpose is meaningful. For Joe Goldberg, brand strategy lead at Santander, Tom Scrimgour, managing director at Redblue Research, and Greg Sill, founding partner of Redblue Research, brand is often more meaningful than price as most consumer decisions are driven by brand preference not price. Brands people love and feel a trusted connection with end up winning. Of course, brands must ensure  consumers perceive that brand purpose and imagery in a similar way as the company. You must conduct the research to ensure what you say and believe about your brand is actually what consumers see and believe about your brand. 

Power to the people.

Say goodbye to the traditional power structure! David Ashiru, director of sales at OnePulse, and Nadia Morozova, head of EU research and insights, marketing science at TikTok, explained how, traditionally, brands shared their message and consumers heard their words. But today, with social media like TikTok, anyone with niche expertise and internet access has the resources to push out messages to a potentially huge audience. Fame is now a decentralized and inclusive circle of influence that lets anyone who really understands the human experience to reach huge audiences. Brands have no choice but to rethink and reframe their messaging strategies to match these new rules. 

Agile people will step in where you fail.

It may be hard to believe but depending on what country you’re in up to 70% of people believe they will be doing all their shopping online in 10years. Jeannine Ferguson, marketing and innovation director, north Europe at DS Smith, Lindsay P., managing director at Nepa, and BV Pradeep, former global vice president – consumer and market insights, market clusters at Unilever, shared how customer needs are changing rapidly and brands must be prepared to understand and respond to those needs quickly. That includes having a flawless omni-channel process regardless of the category, e.g., fresh/frozen food delivery. In fact, in some Asian regions, supply chains are as short as two hours – from swimming in the ocean to being photographed on an e-commerce website to front door delivery. If you want to survive, you must build a competitive omni-channel process now.