The airline steward requested all phones should be switched off. It was this routine request, heard many times before, that alerted my travelling colleague to a problem. Suddenly, he had the unpleasant realisation he’d left his iPhone X in a duty-free shop back in the Airport terminal. All relaxation evaporated in a moments realisation as we took off on our return flight to London.
According to Business Insider, although it has never been proven that a mobile phone signal has interfered with the navigation performance of an aircraft, the real reason airlines make you put your phone on “Airplane Mode” is to protect against radio interference to cell phone networks on the ground. Putting that aside, when we landed in London my colleague was going to be reliant on the customer service of at least 5 major brands to be reunited with his “remote control for life”.
What can market research do?
Understanding customers, their mindset and their needs is vital for the success of all organisations. At Davies Hickman http://www.davieshickman.com we use quantitative and qualitative research with existing and prospective customers, to support organisations in their quests for:
- brand tracking
- segmentation for marketing
- new product development
- thought leadership
- market trends
- competitor analysis.
Quantitative research can also be used to understand customer service and journeys; to help employees support customers at each stage of their journey. Is it easy for customers to contact your organization 24/7? What is the spectrum of emotions they may be feeling when they contact you? Do brands you buy from understand your expectations and needs?
The limitations of in-house customer data
In-house customer data has limitations when predicting an organisation’s growth as it will miss what prospective customers are looking for, and the relevance of technology innovations that new customers would like to use eg Alexa, Revolut payments, chatbots. Organisations need clues from prospective and future customer market research to understand their behaviours and buying habits to plan for the future.
Predictive customer research requires the research sample to represent all future customers, for example the range of genders, ages, locations, income. Why quantitative research is so highly valued is it gives future indicators across a sample population of the customers you have, or want to attract in the future, and it reveals some customer insights and statistics about new product development, new geographies and new customer service levels that influence growth plans that are valid in the Board room.
Today and in the future, quantitative market research with current and prospective customers will support organisations to make better growth decisions. But, I can witness what is most highly valued from a customer’s perspective about quantitative market research, for those who need some international lost property expertise, is engaged employees offering excellent customer service preferably with ISO 18295 accreditation, the International Standard specifically for planning, reviewing and implementing best practice Customer service in Contact Centres.