A new year deserves a new episode from our Casual Conversation series! In this episode we’ve brought along some new faces, introducing Sammy (Research Associate), Maisie (Senior Research Associate), and Katharine (Client Success Manager), who discuss the importance of agile research alongside Maria. From individual perceptions to a variety of key tips, Maria, Sammy, Maisie, and Katharine share their views on and experiences with agile market research.
Every insight professional has heard about ‘agile’ research. It’s inevitably that it will come up in a good 90% of professional conversations, as it has become a strategic goal for businesses to conduct research as agile as possible. However, with associations with both speed and flexibility, it can be hard to get the right balance that will lead to the generation of the valuable quality data needed for truly informative insights.
In the previous episode, Paul, Charles, and Maria talked a lot about how FlexMR’s research tools and services can assist the execution of an agile approach to market research, with the sheer range and customisability available to clients. However, there is more to agile research than tools and services - there is a mindset and an awareness that researchers and clients need, different expectations that need to be set if this agile approach is to be successful that we will introduce you to in this short video.
Open communication is incredibly important throughout the whole of the process as Sammy mentioned, since the iterative research process is ever-evolving,ever-dependent on the insights generated from the previous stage. Without communication, the agility of the research experience will break down and the specificity of the research topics will be lost with each member contributing to the research process following a different train of thought, having different ideas as to what insights to prioritise for further research; but when it’s done well, the positive impacts of agile research are vast.
With this data-driven approach, large-scale projects can be easily broken down into smaller stages to fit in with the development and business timelines. Exponentially increased engagement from stakeholders, clients, and other insight professionals mean that the research conducted at each stage is tailored to the ideas being generated and decisions being made throughout the time the experience is taking place. Agile research fits in well with projects such as product development, where customer input is needed to make sure that the product or service in commission will be in demand by the end of the research and development experience.
Saying this though, it’s important to note as Maisie does, that agile research is suitable for every project, so taking the time to really get to know what you’re wanting to research, and understand the methods available to you within your ideal time-frame is essential.
A Casual Conversation on... is a series of short, candid videos with the FlexMR leadership team that introduce the key offerings of the agency, our thinking and viewpoints on the future of market research and the insight industry. Throughout these videos, you'll hear direct from those involved in designing the InsightHub platform and the unique agency model that FlexMR operates.