Much of the research industry is stuck debating bad data, fraudulent respondents, and synthetic fixes. Important issues, yes—but they’re symptoms of a bigger problem: the industry is often asking the wrong questions in the wrong way.
At conversationpartners.ai, we start somewhere different. We always come back to three simple truths:
1. WHAT DO CLIENTS WANT?
High quality insight that they can make confident decisions from. Sounds easy but many clients are often disappointed and disenfranchised.
2. WHAT DO PEOPLE TAKING PART WANT?
Fundamentally, they want to express their opinion in their words and be listened to. Traditional research falls way short.
3. WHAT IS POSSIBLE COMBINING HUMAN SKILL AND TECHNOLOGY?
Our experience is that utilising human skills and the right artificial intelligence allow us to do Point 2, in a deep, comprehensive and fast manner that was unimaginable even 2-3 years ago.
And by getting Point 2 right, we get Point 1 right – we do great work for clients
Our mantra is very simple : HUMANISE, SIMPLIFY and AMPLIFY
HUMANISE : At the very core is deep real conversations with real people. This requires real listening
SIMPLIFY: No lengthy discussion guides, no complex platforms, no arguments on sample size and quality. We just ask our clients what keeps them up at night, what do they need answers to.
AMPLIFY: People’s stories and opinions are amplified through brilliant things we bring to our clients. We have not produced one single PowerPoint slide and don’t intend to start now.
In the last 6 months we have done work on English wine product tasting, Premier League fan experience and engagement, Women’s Organisation membership views, Food Shopping, Social Research, Women in Sport and Organisational Health. We have yet to find a topic that doesn’t work with our approach. And the lessons are crystal clear.
1. Let people speak but make sure you listen
Our conversational approach is not easy, it requires real focus, excellent listening skills and mental dexterity. What we get though is what people really think and do and very importantly we get that in their own words, in their own context. This is huge when you think of how we want to communicate and interact with audiences.
2. Strategic and tactical impact all in one
A recent project we worked on with the new Everton stadium development opened up hugely important strategic elements based on the new stadium and its’ fans having a significantly bigger ‘share of voice’ in Liverpool City Centre. Particularly on match weekends, the opportunities for the football club, small business and indeed the city of Liverpool are already taking place and the potential opportunities huge. But the same work was also very clear on fan experience issues on issues like having enough bins in the toilets, the price of a pint and the entrance gates.
3. Less is more
Less in terms of sample size, less in terms of cost and less in terms of time.
We believe the thinking changing the perspective for clients. Clearly, large sample sizes are NO guarantee of quality. But hugely engaging conversations with willing people create fabulous content. Think compelling content not sample size.
And the great news for clients, because we have great and revealing conversations, we get to what matters very quickly. In the last 2 weeks, I have suggested to the client that we should stop having more conversation on the basis they won’t add anything new, but they did save client budget.
4. Unknown unknowns
The listening approach also is unfettered and often our conversation partners volunteer valid solutions or just offer up unexpected views. We have had them open up big potential for a subcategory of wine that was underperforming, of bringing the type of communications that a members’ organisation would respond to and of specific merchandising ideas that a football club would drive revenue from.
5. Wow the client
Part of our mission at the outset was to do away with PowerPoint. I feel we are all scarred by it.
We have achieved that – we combine real human intelligence and artificial intelligence to provide smart intelligence with impact. All the time we are testing new and effective ways of communicating – already the results of audio, video and short written text are meaning that we are having real impact.
We feel we are at the start of our journey but one that uniquely (?) works with real business impact with our clients but also the people contributing their opinions and ideas.
So, we are keen to offer something that has real business impact. If you have business issues that are giving you sleepless nights, if you feel no closer to solving business issues, let’s start the process with a conversation. Contact me here or at andyd@conversationpartners.ai
