Before we experienced a worldwide pandemic and the Great Resignation, employers knew how to keep and retain talent. The focus was on providing work-life balance, exciting roles, improved technology, and better onboarding and training. In this new age, people are requesting flexible work schedules and locations. A report by the Future Forum, a group within Slack Technologies Inc, found that “95% of employees want flexible schedules and 78% want flexible locations.”
While not having to stick to a fixed 9-5 schedule and the ability to work from anywhere can be helpful to workers, employers need to dig deeper to understand how this will play out. These new ways of working come with drawbacks that can sneak up and drag down employee satisfaction and morale.
Because the boundaries aren’t as firm as they once were. We used to have a built-in transition with the commute to and from work. Many of us no longer have that physical and mental transition that ends work time and starts home time.
comes from being online all day, in virtual meetings, without truly interacting or collaborating with people face-to-face. Gone are the spontaneous “water cooler chats” and the conference room banter that happens before and after meetings.
If you find yourself talking to your dog or cat throughout the day, you are not alone. Working from home can create feelings of loneliness and isolation, as people find themselves rarely needing to leave their home/work office. This can be especially true if you started a job during the pandemic and you have never met your co-workers or manager in-person.
Many companies are incorporating new approaches to support employees in adjusting to flexible schedules and locations, such as:
If you haven’t listened to your employees recently, now is the time. We can help you and your organization understand what employees REALLY want, and how to help them achieve the balance they crave in this new world we are navigating.
With SIVO’s Organizational Intelligence Solution, we dig deep via employee interviews and group discussions to understand the challenges and engagement of the workforce. We facilitate leaders in the development of strategies and solutions to help employees cope with the “side effects” that come with flexible work schedules and remote work environments.
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In your brand's early development stages, you likely gave much thought to the idea of a buyer persona.
You researched who you expected to purchase your products, how they would interact with your brand, and which factors would influence them to choose your brand over a competitor's. You painted a picture of what their needs are, what they do, and how their key motivators would align with your offerings.
Now, it's time to see that journey in action.
The path to purchase describes the journey that your target buyers take from the moment they first discover your product or service until they ultimately decide to buy it. The better you understand this journey, the easier it is to connect with them at key milestones and decision points to convert them from awareness to consideration to purchase, and then to repeat purchases.
Today, we're sharing how to conduct this research effectively and what to do with the results you uncover.
Put simply, the path to purchase encompasses all of the steps that your users take as they convert from a prospect into a paying customer. This can include multiple different channels, touchpoints, and platforms.
While each person's brand experience will be nuanced and unique, most leads take a few central steps as they travel along this journey. These include:
Also known as a customer journey or buyer journey, the path to purchase can be a valuable part of your audience analysis. It allows you to climb inside the mind of your prospective buyers, and current buyers and understand why and how they're engaging with your brand.
Let's break these stages down a little, explaining the important aspects to research and analyze.
The first step in the path to purchase is awareness. This is the moment that your prospective customers first learn about your brand, and it sets the tone and the stage for the rest of your interactions together.
Years ago, mass marketing campaigns were more effective than they were today. Modern buyers want customization and personalization at every turn, and 80% are more likely to purchase from a brand that offers tailored experiences. This means that gone are the days when you could send out one e-mail blast or a generic postcard to your leads and expect them to convert.
Now, the most effective ways to reach your target audience include:
Not only should these outreach measures be personalized, but they should also include a call-to-action (CTA) that encourages users to take that next step. Do you want them to check out your website, sign up for your e-newsletter, contact you to set up a consultation? Remember to make the CTA clear, actionable, and easy to follow.
Once you've initiated the path to purchase, you can track your marketing efforts, e.g., engagement and response rate, to understand how effective your chosen tactics were. For instance, with inbound marketing campaigns, most website analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics, or CRM systems, such as, HubSpot, allow you to easily monitor the traffic going to your website, the number of views each blog gets, or the success rate of your paid online ads.
Regularly review these numbers to understand which channels are the most successful. Then, fine-tune the most profitable ones and look for ways to eliminate or phase out the ones that aren't as fruitful.
For larger brands with national distribution, you can also conduct advertising and brand awareness tracking research to understand the percentage of consumers who are aware of your advertising and brand, pre vs. post the execution of your marketing campaign or in regular intervals such as, one or two times per year.
Key questions to ask at this stage include:
Piquing the interest of your target buyer is only the first part of the path to purchase. Next, the prospect will consider all of the features that your company or product offers, comparing them against others in your same space. They're looking for differentiators that set your brand apart, such as price point, quality, speed of delivery, product features, and more.
To perform this competitive analysis, they may perform the following steps:
At the core of this step is the buyer's need for information and insights. If you can provide this intelligence about your solution better than anyone else can, then you're more likely to move them from this phase of the buyer journey to the next.
In this step, you'll need to research and manage your online presence and reputation. Do you know what your target buyers will see when they search for your brand name online?
There are reputation management tools that can help you uncover and respond to your company reviews. In addition to the reviews on your website or Google Business Profile, remember to also check common and industry-specific third-party review sites.
Another area to research is how well you've explained and demonstrated your product or service. If a prospective customer wanted to learn more about how your solution works, are there online descriptions, manuals, sheets, videos, or in-store signage that make this step simple? The more transparent you can be, the easier it is to compare your solution against another.
Key questions to ask at this stage include:
After a lead discovers and researches your brand, they may decide to take that next step and make a purchase. To help them get there, you'll need to provide information that reveals why your company or offering is the best fit for their needs.
Depending on the solution you offer, this could require the buyer to make a significant investment. They'll want to review all of their options and compare top features to make sure they're making a wise decision.
This final stage of the path to purchase is all about sealing the deal. Research your company's current methods for engaging prospects and moving them along the sales funnel.
Some companies with “Business to Business” (B2B) offerings might use this time to perform presentations, pitches, and demos to share how their products work. Others with “Business to Consumer” (B2C) offerings might use advertising, on-package claims, third-party endorsements and in-store signage to demonstrate their benefits to prospective buyers. . The nature of your business and the type of audience you serve will dictate the exact strategy you deploy.
Key questions to ask at this stage include:
At each stage of the consumer path to purchase, you'll have the opportunity to gather insights into buyer behaviors. As you do, it's important to know what metrics to track, when to dive in, and who to involve. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of the data you obtain.
As brands seek to improve their buyers’ path to purchase experience, most are focused primarily on hard numbers, aka quantitative data, about the purchase, including volume, amount and frequency of sales, who and where purchased, percent of repeat purchases, etc. While this type of behavioral data is extremely important -, but don't underestimate the value of qualitative insights about the buying journey.
The ultimate goal of each phase is to understand the mindset of your buyers, and you can't get there with quantitative measurements alone. You need to understand the emotions that your prospective buyers are feeling, as well as what's behind their concerns, hesitancies, and excitement.
A few of the ways you can capture qualitative feedback include:
Not only are these insights helpful in directing your current and future campaigns, but they can also motivate your internal stakeholders. If you can share direct quotes and client feedback with your C-suite and marketing teams, it's easier for them to understand the human side of their work, in addition to the technical and economical side.
For some B2C companies, there is a primary shopper involved in each brand interaction. However, most B2B transactions involve other, behind-the-scenes decision-makers and influencers.
As such, resist the temptation to consider the path to purchase as strictly linear and one-dimensional in nature. In reality, it's more multi-faceted and complex.
Try to learn about the key stakeholders involved in buying decisions, as well as their specific roles. It also helps to understand how they interact with one another, as well as when each one enters and leaves the buyer journey. While some will be involved from start to finish, others may join and leave at different times.
To get the fullest view of your path to purchase, don't start your research at the first time the buyer and seller interact. Instead, go back even further to the pre-shopping stage. Increasingly, this means analyzing how buyers live, work, and how they find and compare offerings to meet their needs.
Today, most buyers are hopping online to discover new brands. In fact, in the B2B sphere, the average customer performs 12 different searches before deciding to engage with a specific brand. While it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly when a buyer first discovers your brand, spend time exploring different purchasing triggers to understand how to optimize these interactions.
As you research and learn more about your customerpath to purchase, you can customize and fine-tune your offerings and marketing communications to appeal precisely to those who are interested in them the most.
At SIVO, we're dedicated to helping our clients understand their buyers' needs, beliefs, and behaviors. We can help you gain visibility and address challenges by asking the right questions directly to your target audiences. Then, we'll work with you to turn those insights into actionable steps that can drive conversions, improve engagement, and build brand reputation. Contact us at Contact@SIVOInsights.com or go to SIVOInsights.com today to schedule a discovery call and connect!
by Julie Rose
Did somebody say recession? Unfortunately, recessions are a normal part of the business cycle. There are periods of economic growth and periods of economic slowdown. During a recession, the economy slows, companies struggle with sales, people lose their jobs, and the stock market suffers. The point where the economy officially falls into a recession depends on multiple factors, but many experts indicate that two consecutive quarters of decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a sign of recession. The recession in 2020 occurred when the pandemic impacted our economy. The Great Recession in 2008 was caused by the collapse of the housing market. We are seeing signs for the next recession too, with some experts predicting late 2022 or early 2023. According to the Washington Post, the economy contracted in the first three months of 2022, by shrinking at a 1.4 percent pace.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/19/recession-economy-markets/
One common result of recession is that unemployment rises. Companies sometimes employ “hiring freezes” to maintain profits, while they wait for the economy to stabilize. This puts stress on the rest of the workforce so companies must look for ways to protect their current employees from burnout while also ensuring the most critical work gets done.
It’s common for businesses today to look for creative ways to expand their bandwidth to continue to achieve short and long-term goals. For companies that don’t want to make the long-term commitment of hiring full-time employees or are trying to conserve budgets, hiring temporary or “on demand” professionals is a low-risk, cost-effective option.
Recession-Proof Insights Talent from SIVO On Demand Talent
SIVO On Demand Talent can help with skilled Consumer Insight and Market Research Professionals that ease your team’s workload and help you achieve your business goals while also relieving you of the financial risk that is common during a recession.
We offer flexible solutions, like short or long-term assignments for fill-in roles or finite projects. Additionally, we can serve as an extension of your internal Consumer Insights Team, what we like to call your “back-pocket” consultants. For some clients, our talent serves as the virtual CI team, supporting initiatives in a cost-effective way while also ensuring high quality insights.
SIVO On Demand Talent offers far more flexibility than full-time employee expansion. Plus, you don’t have to spend your valuable time searching for, hiring, and training talent. We take care of it all for you, freeing you from the burden of a lengthy process.
Let SIVO help you manage through the ‘hiring freeze” by temporarily meeting your Insights, Analytics or Market Research talent needs.
Reach out to ondemandtalent@sivoinsights.com for a consultation.
SIVO Interview with Mary McIlrath, Children and Family Market Research Expert
By Kerry Juhl
Recently, SIVO, Inc. was lucky enough to have Mary McIlrath join our expanding team. Mary has amassed a wealth of experience in Children and Family market research. She is a recognized expert in the generations space, having established a successful Generation Z and Generation Alpha research practice in her past role. She has taught MBA courses in Qualitative Research at the University of Wisconsin and Quantitative Research at the University of Illinois and lectured at Northwestern University.
I recently sat down with Mary to discuss her experience with studying families and generational differences.
Question: Mary, you have been studying families and generational differences for most of your career. How did you become a subject matter expert on this topic?
Mary: I have always been fascinated by understanding generational differences and family dynamics. I come from both industry and academic perspectives—it’s common for former academics to work in industry, but it’s rare birds like me who keep a foot in both disciplines over a career. I’ve been able to harvest the best of both worlds. For example, my academic experience instilled a mindset that respondents should benefit as much or more than the researcher. This is particularly important when working with children and adolescents. Their needs come first; when they are met, the client also benefits. Industry experience has helped me be effective and efficient in conducting research. My dual expertise gives me a deep toolbox of constructs and methods to help my clients achieve their business objectives, with the well-being of the family at center stage.
Question: Mary, what does a typical U.S. family look like today?
Mary: It’s something in continuous flux. Sometimes it’s single-parent households. Sometimes it’s families with two dads. Sometimes it’s blended homes containing multiple generations. What has gradually become less common is the Norman Rockwellian image of two opposite-gender people raising a gaggle of kids with traditional gender roles. For instance, in 1968, 85% of children under 18 yrs. old lived with two parents (regardless of marital status) but that number has dropped to 70% in 2020. About 25% of children live with a single parent in the household.*
Question: How are manufacturers and marketers responding to the needs of today’s children and families?
Mary: It’s a sea change from how brands thought about families in the early days of youth research in the 1980s and 1990s. Those who used to make simple toys, TV shows, or food and beverages for kids are now thinking of how to stay relevant with their offerings and communication in the Metaverse. They are thinking about what is to come in Augmented Reality (AR) since Pokemon Go flipped the script. They are brainstorming what Virtual Reality (VR) will look like. That’s no small task, especially since children’s sense of balance and depth are still developing and putting them outside 3D spaces risks hampering their natural brain development.
Question: What is the latest regulatory environment for marketing and advertising to youth and families?
Mary: If you work on kid brands, it is critical to understand global ethics around marketing and advertising to children and families. Countries around the world have differing laws about when it is acceptable to advertise to young people. Those in the U.S. are the least restrictive because of industry self-established watchdogs like CARU (Children’s Advertising Review Unit). This organization does regular and thorough audits of marketing campaigns to children and calls out/suggests changes to anything that seems unfair.
Question: How does this impact conducting market research with kids and families?
Mary: In the U.S. it’s allowable to do research directly with children with a parent’s consent. It’s “cleaner” data coming straight from children rather than filtered through parents who mistakenly think they know what their kids truly want.
Question: What are a few of your best practices for conducting market research with kids and families?
Mary: Here are a few tips from my experience:
SIVO is excited for Mary to join our team and strengthen our Children and Family market research capabilities. To learn about how kids and families interact with and think about your brand, please reach out to us at Contact@SIVOInsights.com.
*source: 2020 Census Bureau's Current Population Survey
By Cindy Blackstock
We’ve all hired someone to complete a task or a job for us. For example, if your lawn needs to be mowed – you can hire someone to mow it. Seems simple, doesn’t it? But have you ever asked that question about the products or services you work with? Do you know what “job” your customers need done, that is causing them to “hire” your product or service?
Customer needs are often less clear than ‘your lawn needs to be mowed.’ Identifying customer needs or “jobs to be done” is an intentional exercise where we must listen, observe and expertly question customers to uncover.
Jobs Theory reframes our relationship with customers, making them the center of our focus. While conventional marketing tends to focus on brand and product benefits, Jobs Theory doesn't look internally at products and services but instead, looks externally, to expose the functional, social, and emotional jobs that explain why customers make the choices they do.
People don’t simply buy products or services; they bring them into their lives to fulfill a need. We call this need the ‘job’ they are trying to get done. When we discover why customers want to ‘hire’ products or services, we develop a customer-centric view, allowing brand teams to become empathetic to their customers' needs and wants.
Trending for SIVO: What Does a Remote Workforce Really Want? You Need to Dig Deeper to Find Out
A good Jobs to be Done Map becomes a framework that helps marketers figure out how to improve their products or innovate by developing new products and services in their industry or category, i.e., ‘where to play.’ It can be leveraged beyond a single initiative. It maps all the jobs that customers have for a particular occasion. For example, a Snacking JTBD Map includes all the jobs that customers have for the snacking occasion. A Financial Investment JTBD Map, includes all the jobs that customers have for investing their money. It lives on in your organization as a place to continually go back to for inspiration and focus. It provides:
Inspiration and guardrails for brand positioning, marketing messages, product innovation and renovation
A framework for capturing, defining, categorizing, and prioritizing customer needs
A common language and focus for the cross-functional team
There are several factors that influence customer behavior, including:
At SIVO, we help our clients uncover their customers’ jobs for a wide range of application opportunities. We design customized research that leads to a fully developed Jobs to be Done Map. Our approach focuses on uncovering the subconscious drivers of customer decision-making by understanding the underlying needs and true motivations.
In Part 2 of our Jobs series, we will share the keys to success for Jobs to be Done mapping along with some examples of how it comes to life. Until then, please reach out to discuss how we can help you to get your brand, product, or service hired.
Reach out to the SIVO team at Contact@SIVOInsights.com to discuss how we can develop a Jobs to be Done Map for your organization.
SIVO Insights brings together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence. Have a business challenge? Let's talk!
We bring together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence
