SEEK: BLOG

The Laws of Attention

 

We’ve all felt the pain of report rejection, creating a beautiful presentation only to have it ignored or forgotten.  It is not because your work was bad, or even that your readers don’t care. It is simply that the majority of people’s attention is so fragmented due to multitasking that in order to get them to listen, you have to simplify, visually represent the information as much as possible or just be really, really interesting.  

This is a collection of communication insights gathered “in the trenches” of the INSPIRE/Visual Communication wing of lil’ ole’ Seek.  After all, we really care and are – no kidding - devoted to deep people understanding!

Here are a few things to keep in your hat when thinking about... 

1_Data

Graphs are good for providing context or proving a point.  They should be employed as an eye-catching appetizer, never as the main course.  Let’s face it, those old Excel bar graphs are a bit bland.  Next time, try customizing your graph to the subject.  If we’re talking about number of units shipped, use little trucks as your data points.  Also, who says pie charts have to look like pies?  I’ve seen pie charts that looked like countries, buildings, and even people.  

For examples of great graphs and charts, check out informationisbeautiful.net/category/datavisualisation

2_Language 

Like with data, simplicity is key.  Above all, be direct.  Your words should create a path to understanding, and that path needs to be as short and enjoyable as possible.  Don’t use 15 words when 5 will do.  Be active in your wording; try to avoid the passive voice (“It was written by me”, vs. “I wrote it”).   Don’t be afraid to be funny.  Chances are, if your audience is as serious about success as you are, they’ll appreciate the chance to chuckle.   

The best advice I ever received on writing comes from a little book published in 1918 entitled The Elements of Style.  You should own a copy.  Seriously.  And read between the lines; being a student of the English language means not only knowing the rules, but also knowing when to break them.  

If you don’t know anyone with a copy of Elements of Style lying around, you can get it at www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X

3_Text 

I know what you’re thinking-- “What’s the difference between language and text?”  In short, everything.  When you open your word processor, you have a variety of weapons in your arsenal.  Bold.  Italic.  Underline.  Font family.  Color.  The combinations are endless.  You wouldn’t believe how much thought goes into typeface choice for one of our design pieces.  It’s not because we’re OCD (ok maybe a little), it’s because we know how important typeface choice really is.  It can make or break a presentation, meaning the difference between being easily understood and being hopelessly diluted.  

The default font on your word processor (helvetica for me) is the default for a reason.  Don’t underestimate small changes. Going from black to dark gray can really soften the text.  Jumping from 18 point font down to 10 is like jumping off a three story building. A small indentation can have the same effect as a font, color, or size change.  The more that people clearly understand your words, the less time you spend reexplaining yourself in the future.     

Because there are numerous schools of thought on typography, I won’t suggest any individual blog, course, or resource.  Instead, start to educate yourself.  You should begin learning where everyone else does:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography#Text_typography

4_Images 

When we design QuickCards (basically 1-pagers crammed with research learning), magazines, or other print materials for clients, we spend a lot of time and effort selecting the right images.  The right image should add value, and be worth its weight (and its page area) in words.  Before you snatch that image off of Google search, consider the following questions:  Is this image necessary?  Does it enhance the story I’m trying to tell?  Does it require explanation?  Rule of thumb:  if it requires a caption, ditch it.  

5_Motion 

I’ve left motion for last because it’s the most valuable and the least accessible to the average person.  Film and motion graphics are definitely the next big things in research reporting;  the most likely to command the attention of a wide audience for an extended period of time.  With the release of Apple’s new iPad, magazines, newspapers, and other traditionally static print pieces are embracing the idea that text and motion can not only coexist but thrive together.  At Seek, we’re pioneering the use of motion graphics to bring quantitative and qualitative data to life like never before.  More and more, we’re seeing requests for treatments combining photography and motion to recap research or ideation sessions.  Placing consumers in front of the camera to tell their story (the hallmark of our insight, who, and receptivity films) is more popular than ever.  We’ve discovered that the best way to communicate insight is with beauty, and all of your consumers are beautiful.

Probably the best example I’ve seen of the power of motion graphics comes from
 crisisofcredit.com

Imagine a day when your colleagues not only engage and remember your reports but eagerly await the next one! 

Jonathan Smith

jonathan@seekresearch.com

NEW Seeker Spotlight...

 Courtney PeGan

Q. Tell us a bit about your background and how it led you to Seek.

A. I have always been fascinated by people and understanding why we do what we do, and one day in a marketing class at Purdue University, I realized that I could make a career out of this!  I loved the idea of understanding what a consumer really wants, and using that knowledge to guide strategy and new product development. After realizing this, I went to P&G and worked in the Consumer & Market Knowledge group for about 5 years.  I loved being so connected to the consumer and using that to drive meaningful business growth.  I followed this passion to Seek only a few months ago.  I had worked with Seek while at P&G, and I loved the people, the culture, and the opportunity to work more closely with the consumer.  It was a perfect fit for me to take on a role here as an Account Leader because it combines my love of deep people understanding with my skills in understanding business drivers and how to use consumer insight to guide strategy.  I love this work and couldn’t imagine my life without it!

Q.  Strengths Finder is a popular assessment here at Seek. Tell us about your #1 Strength? 

A. I wasn’t too surprised to find out that my Top Strength is “Strategic.”  I love problem solving and identifying the key drivers of a situation.  I am energized by creating strategy to overcome these issues: short term and long term.  I believe that this strength also taps into the perfectionist in me because it allows me to constantly look for ways to improve and change things for the better.

However, I also love my 2nd Strength because I think that it is central to who I am as a leader- “Individualization.”  This basically means that I am intrigued with the unique qualities of each person and figuring out what they need to be their best and work together most effectively.  My favorite line in the Strengths Finder assessment is, “People simply fascinate you.”

Q.  We know you’re an avid reader. What book(s) are you reading now?

A. I love reading- especially now that the weather is warm and sunny.  You can typically find me spending at least a couple hours in the sunshine reading a book. I always like to balance my reading with fictional fun books and business focused, educational books.  Right now I am re-reading “Wuthering Heights” because I love revisiting the classics.  I find that it is an excellent way to connect with history and all those who have read this book for over a century now.  As soon as I finish this, my “on deck” book is "Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business."   I was drawn to this book because I believe that Social Media is such a HUGE untapped resource for consumer understanding and guiding business strategy.  After all, Facebook surpassed Google in weekly hits for the first time less than a month ago! 

Q. So how are you coping with Spring Fever?

A. I am most definitely a creature who thrives when challenged and busy.  So this Spring I am taking on both professional AND personal challenges to keep me busy and constantly improving.  Professionally, I am challenged everyday at work by thinking through exciting business questions from clients and brainstorming new ways to learn from consumers.  Personally, I am challenging myself through training for the Flying Pig Half Marathon & my first Triathlon.  I love being active and spending time outside in this beautiful weather- but sometimes my biggest challenge is taking the time to relax- even if just sitting on the porch with a great book and a glass of wine.

Courtney PeGan

courtney@seekresearch.com

Ideation Gone Horribly Wrong!

True Story!  Imagine that you’ve been invited to participate in an important ideation session.  You walk into a room with 15 of your colleagues sitting in a nicely formed circle.  There are no pens, post-it notes or anything to even write on!  The leader of the meeting says… “Okay everyone, we’re hear to come up with some new ideas for____.”  “Does anyone have any ideas?”  One person speaks up and says… “What about a ______?”  Another speaks up and says… “No, we looked at that idea last year… it didn’t test well.”  The room goes silent until another brave soul speaks up as the same scenario happens over and over again.

Can you even count the reasons this was bad?  No one thing can fix this session, but I’ll offer up something that could have helped a little!

Simple tip to improve your ideation sessions… Share some stimulus!

What is stimulus?  Stimulus is anything that will get participants to think about your challenge in a new way and stimulate multiple ideas.  At Seek, we believe that just about anything can be used to stimulate great ideas.  At the same time, we know that choosing the right stimulus for your topic and audience is important.  There is a direct correlation to the type of stimulus presented and the number of new/different ideas generated.  See chart below.  

Scenario:  Let’s pretend an office furniture company needs to fill their pipeline with some new desk designs.  The goal is to design a new desk that will increase productivity…

What type of stimulus might you bring in to inspire great ideas?

 

Consider pushing your comfort level out to the more analogous stimulus to create the newest ideas.  

Questions to help you think about what analogous stimulus to present:

1.    What other categories/industries do something like (insert ideation goal) “designing for productivity?”  

2.    Who else thinks “productivity” is important?  

3.    What are other words are related to the idea of “productivity?” 

Oh, and by the way… please don’t shoot down bad ideas… encourage them!  

Greg Hewitt

greg@seekresearch.com

Research As A Safari

Metaphors are a crucial means of expressing ourselves.  We've been working on a metaphor around here that helps express our philosophy behind research.  
 

I believe that research should be a safari and not walk through the zoo.

 Safaris get out there and tour the real terrain.  You can stick your arms out the side of the truck and touch the animals.  You can smell the smells and feel the textures of the land. Zoos provide a re-created environment to get a snapshot of what the real thing would be like.  The upside of the Zoo is that it's much safer and pretty darn predictable - you know what you're getting yourself into.

 From a research perspective, we believe in getting in there and trying some new things - treading some new trails.  We provide an experienced safari guide who is trained in research scenarios and can guide the team through any unexpected hindrances.

 Recently, on a global project, we had some unexpected things show up... in the terms of results.  The team put their trust in the safari leaders and at the end of things, we came to some new and fresh conclusions.  It was an extremely rewarding process, albeit quite uncomfortable at times. Isn't it pretty true in life that being comfortable doesn't yield the ground breaking results?

Renee Murphy

renee@seekresearch.com

Twitter: ReneeAtSeek

6 Tips to a Respondent-Friendly Screener

Respondents are a researcher’s most valuable asset— without them, the deepest probing we may find ourselves doing in a given work day may be “Paper or plastic, sir?”  As researchers, it is in our blood to seek out knowledge, but we need to do so in a way that will respect our respondents and the way they naturally think and communicate.  The following are some helpful tips to building a good screener when beginning your recruiting journey.

#1 - Clearly define your research goals.
This is a no-brainer, Marketing Research 101 type of a thing, right?  Yes, but it’s amazing how often we forget to keep our goals in mind when designing research.  Whenever you add a new question, ask yourself “will this lead to my ideal respondent?”  If the answer is “kind of” or “no,” try again.

#2 - If it’s not necessary, then don’t ask.
It may be tempting to ask lots of interesting questions, or questions you may want to know for other studies in the future, but it is best not to frustrate your respondent with irrelevant questions.  A frustrated respondent may develop question-fatigue and give short, gruff responses to a question where they would have otherwise provided rich, accurate responses.  They could also develop an inaccurate impression of your company and come into a focus group with unwanted biases, or even quit the screener altogether.  Bottom line: respect their time.

Let’s say you’re recruiting for a cat food study.

• DO: ask about the number of cats, type of food used, etc.
• DON’T: ask about their dog (unless you are recruiting for people with multiple pets) 

#3 - Prioritize your qualifications.
This is ideal when working with a low-incidence population.

• DO: figure out the most important questions to ask and terminate those who don’t qualify
• DON’T: get “trigger-happy” with terminations and eliminate everyone who isn’t perfect.  Put them on a “wait list” and revisit them if you get down to the wire.

#4 - Be sensitive
When obtaining personal information, it’s important that you don’t inadvertently offend the respondent.  Choose your wording carefully.

• DO: Ask questions as if you were at a dinner party (i.e. when did you graduate high school?)
• DON’T: Ask questions as if you were conducting a science experiment (i.e. how old are you?)

#5 - Give your respondents a heads-up
Inform your respondent ASAP about the pieces which may be most important to them: time and money.

• DO: tell your respondent how long the screener will take and how much money is in it for them if they qualify.
• DON’T: guilt/pressure them into an interview, or wait until the end to tell them how much money they could make for their time.

#6 - Train, prepare, and trust your interviewers
Your interviewers are on the front line and are handling your most valuable asset.

• DO: Find intelligent interviewers you can trust to use their best judgment and be friendly to respondents.
• DO: Write a conversational script that gives the interviewer some logical freedom
• DON’T: Micro-manage your interviewers and insist they read your screener word-for-word.

In the end, our main objective is to dig our hands into the thoughts and actions of our respondents and determine the whos, whats, whys, and hows.  If we remember to take our research hats off for a minute and put on our people skills hat, we can ensure we are treating our respondents like the valuable asset that they are.  Remember that your interviewers and your respondents are real people, and you can talk to them like real people.  Considering feelings, offering advance information about time and money factors, and making your questions and criteria intentional will go a long way toward netting you exactly the recruit you want in the time you need it.

Kelley Edelmann
 kelley@seekresearch.com

Teaching Along the Way

My role as a Qualitative Research Consultant isn’t just to do the research and head out.  

I believe that it’s my job to
teach the research team to
be better researchers. 
It’s my job to encourage
them to be people people. 
It’s my job to help the research
team value good research.

I teach the team through two avenues: direct teaching
(body language, how to
ask questions in a way that encourages openness, when
to probe, etc) and demonstration.  I get to demonstrate my desire to listen and understand each and every time I step into a room with consumers.  Hopefully, it sticks and someone carries the passion on.  Hopefully, the research team will
go on to do better research when they’re interfacing with consumers
in the future.

Renee Murphy
 renee@seekresearch.com
 Twitter: ReneeAtSeek

The Overall Experience

The Overall Walk-In...
 to Walk-Out Experience

After being in a customer-service career in retail coffee for several years after college, I have come to hold the research team’s overall experience near and dear to my heart.  I found deep gratification in something as simple as providing a really good (and I mean really good) latte to a customer.  Somewhere I realized that it wasn’t just about the latte, it was about the whole process from walking in the door to walking out the door.  It’s about changing a person’s perspective on the day.

Likewise, research isn’t just about getting the focus group, Consumer Connect or immersion done.  I believe that it’s about enabling my client from the moment I get the first call or e-mail about a new project to delivering the report or creative deliverable… and sometimes it goes beyond that: presenting back to the team or passing findings on to the advertising agency, etc.  At each touch point there are potential delighters: suggesting a related conference or experience that happens to be in the city when we are, creating team invitations that include dinner reservations off-site, generating an organizational system that helps for back-end data organization…the opportunities are endless.  I know how busy my clients are.  I know how much I love it when someone cares enough to deliver an experience.  I want to give that back.

 Renee Murphy
 renee@seekresearch.com
Twitter: ReneeAtSeek