“Brands should keep in touch with me and show they care… we all need to stay strong and stick together; I feel that those brands [which] don’t communicate will seem like they don’t care what is going on. We are in it together.” – GB, female, 40-55*
As this is a rapidly changing situation, and one which is affecting markets at a different pace, research is vital in helping brands to understand today and make decisions for tomorrow. Unfortunately, there is no manual on how to connect and interact with consumers in these uncertain times, but with a structured approach, brands can and will succeed in creating new opportunities. If they haven’t already, now is the time for brands to think about listening, adapting and preparing for tomorrow. Researchers should ‘pause, play and fast-forward’; a framework for collaborating with consumers which can be adapted for branding, communications, innovation or customer experience challenges.
First, brands need to understand what is happening. Consumers’ everyday routines are evolving; they are creating new habits which are largely unseen due to lockdown restrictions. Brands need to pause, connect with consumers to understand how they feel, and get close to their daily challenges and needs. Whilst sending messages of support to consumers may be well-intentioned, these quickly become generic and can easily miss the mark: “Brands are mainly communicating that they are operating just as before, pre-COVID. They also try to arouse some kind of team spirit, saying that we are all in this together and we should work as a team on this crisis. On the one hand I like this message, but I doubt that some brands really mean what they say. I can’t even give specific brands as an example as all messages were basically the same…” – DE, male, 25-39*
To communicate more effectively, brands must be consumer-centric in their approach, embracing research tools like online communities (or MROCs) to reach out to consumers and provide an outlet for sharing current experiences and worries. Online communities function as an additional brand touchpoint, and provide an opportunity to gather consumer understanding of the current reality as well as ensuring that research topics do not get swallowed by COVID-19 discussions.
Having already survived considerable technological, societal and economic change over the last twenty years, communities will thrive as a research methodology in this crisis thanks to three core benefits:
- They are boundless in time and space, meaning that brands can connect with consumers in every corner of the world. The limitations of traditional and offline research methods are overcome, because device-agnostic communities enable communication with anyone, at any time, and from anywhere.
- They are ongoing and always on, providing an understanding of changing consumer needs and frictions over time, which is needed now more than ever as the feelings and behaviors of consumers are changing daily.
- They are immersive and multi-sensorial, in other words they house a multitude of ethnographic activities and tools which allow immersion into the consumer world through text, photos and videos.
Today, this immersion is key, so prioritizing the use of multimedia tools will provide a holistic view of consumers in the current reality. We would recommend:
- Video interviews – weekly check-ins with the same group of consumers over the duration of the community will deliver an understanding of brand and category touchpoints, and allow exploration of topics that require clarification of the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’.
- Mobile ethnography – capturing media-rich content of consumers’ homes and lives, as well as daily interactions with a brand or category, will provide valuable insights in real-time. With screen time at an all-time high, a mobile research app is invaluable.
- Online diaries – regularly logging behavior relating to a category, such as managing finances, or logging key moments and touchpoints, will uncover private and considered thoughts, feelings and introspections, acting as a qualitative ‘tracker’.
Once brands have paused to understand what is happening, they need to act upon their understanding, i.e. press play. Times of crisis demand rapid anticipation of emerging needs and, regardless of size, industry or sector, brands must adapt: “What people want and need at the moment is constantly changing. Brands need to understand our needs so that they can focus on delivering our expectations. In the current climate they need to adapt, otherwise they could go out of business too.” – GB, female, 40-55*. Brands can remain relevant at this time by responding appropriately to changing consumer needs. In order to make decisions quickly, agile research is critical – 24- to 48-hour activities interspersed with periods of ideation, development and iteration of concepts. Agile research allows brands to quickly develop consumer-centric propositions across marketing and communications, product and service optimization, and brand activities like charity and community projects.
A three-stage approach for agile adaptation might be:
- Ideation starts with a clearly defined consumer friction or problem. Explore these and translate them into insights which will form the cornerstone of the ideation journey.
- Develop several execution routes and test/ select the most impactful routes using an online community.
- Test the tactical executions using iterative consumer feedback, aiming to validate and define areas of optimization and refinement.
Finally, whilst brands must deal with issues in the here and now, they also need to look to the horizon and prepare for tomorrow. This crisis will pass so it is essential to keep innovating and, if possible, view the current reality as an opportunity. There is no doubt that the world has and will irrevocably change, as such brands should aim to understand what will largely stay the same within their category, what will change and why, and what is new or emerging and what it means. This is where online communities play a pivotal role, allowing brands to understand how the current situation has an impact on consumers’ beliefs, attitudes and behaviors: “I will spend more time with my family and friends on the weekend, and I will spend more time on both my physical and my mental well-being… I will do moderate and ecological shopping because our planet needs it… I will not make investments and I will try to moderate expenses, limiting myself to a few monetary outputs… I will buy more products such as supplements for the immune system and more home disinfectant gels.” – IT, female, 25-39*
Whether it is for ad testing, mapping emerging needs to fuel innovation, or understanding the post-corona consumer journey, research – i.e. encompassing communities, digital workshopping, creative crowdsourcing, etc. – will support brands to co-create in this new reality, together with consumers.
Consumer centricity is key, now more than ever. Brands cannot just hit pause and fade out; instead, they need to keep the connection with consumers in place through digital collaboration.
* Quotes taken from the InSites Consulting COVID-19 Consumer community (April 2020 – 80 participants ages 18-56+)
