What Do French Press Coffee And Great Consumer Insights Have In Common?
by Bonnie Janzen
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There was something about watching our entire family of adult children, parents, and grandma enjoying French press coffee recently that got me thinking about the similarities between coffee made with a French press and great consumer insights.
You may be thinking it is a stretch, but give me a few minutes. If you have never made coffee with a French press, you should give it a go at your next opportunity. If you are not a coffee connoisseur, maybe a fantastic cup of tea is more to your liking, and some of the same comparisons for making the perfect cup of tea still apply. (Try to substitute the making of your perfect beverage in place of the French press coffee analogy below.)
If you are not terribly familiar with a French press, it is a device which uses the steeping method to brew rich, robust coffee. The French press brews coffee by adding coffee grounds and hot water into a cylindrical pot, then allowing the grounds to be submerged for a few minutes. Next, you utilize a mesh filter to push and hold the grounds on the bottom, while you pour the coffee from the pot.
If you are a coffee lover, it is generally a critical component of your morning. It’s something you enjoy and something you need to get you going in the morning, and perhaps to get you through the day.
Without it, you could be…
Starting your day without a great combination of warm, creamy flavors and robust taste.
Starting your day without the optimal amount of caffeine to help your brain engage in the morning and take on the day’s challenges—which can be very difficult.
Targeting the wrong audience and utilizing the wrong messaging, or perhaps missing a crucial part of the target audience.
Wasting R&D money and materials on products that are not most important to the key target audience.
Damaging your brand by introducing products that are less than optimal in terms of strategy and product formulation.
Pricing products at less than optimal price points that either alienate consumers with prices that are too high, or that leave extra money on the table that the customers are willing to pay.
Introducing a “drag” on your marketing efforts, which would allow multiple inefficiencies to slow the progress of your organization overall.
You may ask yourself why the word “fresh” is important. The insights have to continue to be discovered and delivered to the organization, as we are living in an ever-evolving and quickly changing economy and marketplace. If the organization rests on the insights and “wins” of last year, those will surely not last, as the marketplace and competition, as well as consumer needs and demands, are changing at lightning speed. In addition, it would take multiple years to roll out initiatives; therefore, you have to identify the trends and be working on the solutions for two to three years in advance.
There is significant science behind the methods selected to explore the business issue at hand. In addition, science occurs when we are selecting the appropriate target audience and recruiting them for qualitative interviews or focus groups, or for online or telephone interviews. The sampling techniques and procedures are all science-based, as are the advanced analytics tools that are frequently used for segmentation, pricing analyses, shelf-set displays for retailers, and analyses of tabulation and statistical data for reporting and providing recommendations.
The art comes into play when we are visually displaying data in a compelling way, telling a story about the shopper or the consumer, or editing videos to help demonstrate the key findings of all the research. This dynamic continues to evolve and change as the executive team regularly communicates the findings internally within an organization.
May you find your best cup of coffee, tea, or whatever makes you happy! May you have a wonderful year with consumer insights leading you to great strategic decisions!
I would love to hear your favorite consumer insight of the past year (if it can be shared) and your preferred cup of coffee or tea! Feel free to reply here or send me a message on LinkedIn or email.
About the Author
Bonnie Janzen (bjanzen@decisionanalyst.com) is an Executive Vice President at Decision Analyst. You may contact her at either 1-800-262-5974 or 1-817-640-6166.
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