AURA Decodes Insight

What do companies mean by insight? How does it differ from traditional MR outputs? And how can researchers ensure they are recognised for providing it? All these questions - and more - were addressed in the Association of Users of Research Agencies (AURA) panel discussion at yesterday's Insight Show in London.

The panel was chaired by Leslie Sopp from Age Concern, and included Gaye Myatt from Fresh Insights; Sheila Keegan from Campbell Keegan; Steve Wills, MD of Customer Insight Solutions; and Sandy Livingston from BMRB Enlightenment.

Sopp said the aim of the panel was to 'recode and decode' insight. Members agreed that there was a difference between insight as a flash of inspiration, and insight as a body of deeper, embedded knowledge, and felt that organisations often demanded the former when the latter would be more useful.

Myatt stated that the most important thing was for organisations to define internally what they mean by 'the dreaded I word' to ensure they share a common meaning. 'It's very fashionable to bandy the word about, but you need expectation and clarity,' she said. She also pointed out that not every project requires insight: 'sometimes field and tab is just fine'.

Asked whether insight was just another name for what market researchers have always done, Myatt stated that traditional MR is just one of the strands that fuels insight, and that insight teams are drawing information from a wider variety of sources. This was echoed by Wills, who gave the analogy of the IT industry, saying market research is to insight as computing is to IT.

Myatt also expressed the view that it is the 'actionability' of insight that makes it different, saying 'researchers are often good at generating ideas, but often find it hard to translate that to action'.

Keegan pointed out that 'insight is not a 'thing' - it's something that happens'. She believes that you can't go out looking for insight: instead, it exists in working patterns and relationships, such as drawing on ideas and knowledge from different groups of people.

All agreed that the idea of insight as a collaborative process and something that inspires action makes it hard to deliver results in a traditional presentation or set of tables. Livingstone explained that he is increasingly asked by clients to help sell customer insight throughout an organisation, in addition to simply presenting findings.

Wills pointed out the importance of gathering company information so that insight can be explained in monetary terms - stating precisely how much money could be saved or gained by applying the ideas presented.

The discussion ended with bold predictions about the future of insight. Giving the example of the Tesco clubcard, Wills stated that successful use of customer insight is the key area where companies can make big gains and differentiate themselves from the competition.

AURA is online at www.aura.org.uk.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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