Our Industry Is Changing, and So Are We.

June 26

Our Industry Is Changing, and So Are We.

When we started Consumer Research Associates a dozen years ago, we had a stable of clients in the product development industry and a smattering of clients in communications and advertising. Our clients understood the value of research, and they kept coming back because we always went the distance by not simply reporting findings, but telling clients what to do with them and how to act on them.

We excelled in providing the foundational research our clients needed to understand their customers, and soon they felt as if they knew them on their own. As we sought new clients, we sometimes struggled to convince them of the value of ethnographic and focus group research because they often came to us with a bias toward “big” data and quantitative surveys. Throw a pandemic into that changing landscape, and the type of qualitative research we practice faced even more challenges.

Over the last few years we have found ourselves talking more about the value of our work and how we use research as a vehicle to support our clients’ needs – answering the business, product, and messaging challenges that keep them up at night – versus leading with the research skills that once defined our industry. Instead of the sometimes uphill battle of convincing potential clients that they need research, we’ve found the express lane to connecting with them – our unique set of tools can help clients solve what others promise to and often don’t. Instead of relying on a cadre of business consultants that you hope will have the right experience to solve your challenges, you can rely on a pair of smart guys with an academic background and lots of experience studying the audiences that you need to connect with. A few years ago, and right here in this blog, a new research tool we used would get a shoutout and a page of its own on our site. Today, we’re launching our new website with our new message: we’re here to help you get unstuck and find your way out of your biggest challenges or into your new endeavors.

Whatever direction you need, we’re here to guide you. You’ll still find all of our methods when you drill deeper into our new website, but what we really hope you’ll see first is our ongoing commitment to helping you and your organization understand your customers and audiences so that you can – and will – succeed.