1、Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|1|Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate FasterAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|2|Table of ContentsExecutive Summary.3What is Agile Research?.5How Agile Research Accelerates I

2、nnovation.10How to Get Started with Agile Research.12Inspiring Agile Research Stories&Their Heroes.1810 Secrets to Success With Agile.20Endnotes.22About Digsite.23Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|3|Executive SummaryAgile market research approaches are transforming

3、the way todays leading consumer product teams innovate.At its core,agile approaches enable companies to build better products,experiences and brand communication in a quick and affordable way.Todays leading research solutions use online technology,automation and text analytics to deliver major advan

4、tages over traditional marketing research approaches.Agile solutions1.Provide access to pre-profiled consumers that enable organizations to quickly connect with the precise people they need.Research that used to take weeks to complete can now be recruited in as little as one day.2.Enable the capture

5、 of in-context behavior,with the potential for multiple touch points with consumers to ask follow-up questions or iterate on ideas as they learn.3.Deliver automated reporting dashboards and analysis tools that make it faster to share learning with the team,with representative quotes and video clips

6、that help bring the findings to life.Add it up,and this new approach to development enables consumer product companies to make rapid decisions and ultimately bring better products to market faster.Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|4|What does this look like in real

7、life?Here is a brief example:A national insurance company was implementing a new loyalty program and wanted to see how customers perceived it.By switching to agile,they were able to get 10 x the research with the same budget.The company was also able to wrap up each research sprint in three-to-six d

8、aysinstead of the three-to-six weeks it would usually take.Better research,more of it,for less money and in less time.Whats not to like?By now,you might be thinking that this all sounds great.But youre also probably wondering how,specifically,organizations are actually using agile research to get th

9、eir business to the next level.Weve got you covered.In this guide,you will learn:What agile research is How agile research accelerates innovation How companies like yours can get started with agile research 10 secrets to success with agile Inspiring agile research stories and their heroesExecutive S

10、ummaryAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|5|What is Agile Research?Agile research is a modern approach to research that enables organizations to learn more about their customers in less time and for less money.The term“agile”traces its roots to a software development

11、manifesto that was published in 2001.2 At the time,the manifesto challenged what the writers agreed to be an outdated approach to software development.Instead of working on enormous software solutions and releasing them periodically,the agile approach promised more frequent updates informed by custo

12、mer feedback and,as a result,more powerful,user-friendly software.Agile was developed to solve so-called“wick-ed problems”that are common among inno-vation teams.Wicked problems are multidi-mensional,often involving new or different consumer behaviors.Rather than getting to a solution through analys

13、is,these types of problems often require building early con-cepts or prototypes to identify unforeseen issues and fully flesh out consumer needs.Todays top-performing companies are con-nected to the agile manifesto one way or another.If youve ever wondered why your favorite platforms or websites are

14、 constantly changing or why Apple pushes iPhone up-dates out at regular intervals,you can thank the agile approach to development.Agile,however,is no longer confined to the software world.For example,a utility company re-cently wanted to improve the bill-paying experience.3 Nobody necessarily likes

15、paying bills,but the company wanted to do whatever it could to make the process more enjoyable.Using agile research,they created an activity where customers selected emojis that indicated how they felt when they were paying their bills.The company then asked its customer why they chose certain emoji

16、s.This helped the utility company see things from their customers perspective.With that data,they were able to update the bill-paying experience to make it less abrasive.https:/francislynch.me/gets-solve-wicked-problem-podcastAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|6|What

17、 is Agile Research?Agile Expands Across the EnterpriseWhile agile started in software development,the concept has since spread to many other areas of the enterpriseincluding HR,marketing and R&D.Today,leading consumer products,insur-ance and financial services companies,durables manufacturers and mo

18、re are using agile methods to develop innovative new products,experiences and marketing campaigns.Organic Valley,for example,was looking to refine the packaging design for one of their breakfast drinks.4 The internal team had an idea of designs their target audience might like best,but they wanted t

19、o know for sure.They decided to conduct a one-day sprint that included two different touch-points with consumers.This rapid fire iteration uncovered the insights they needed to finalize a packaging design concept that deeply resonated with their customers.To do this,the team selected roughly 25 part

20、icipants from across the country that fit their target demographic and usage profile.Each of them was asked to mark up four different designs,de-scribing what they liked and disliked.To Organic Valleys surprise,participants seemed to prefer the existing packaging over the new designs.The company use

21、d that information to adjust the questions in the next activity.As a result of this iterative approach,they were able to quickly zero in on a packaging concept they were confident consumers would love.Agile Methods Are Spreading Across OrganizationsAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can

22、 Innovate Faster|7|What is Agile Research?Why are so many companies embracing agile?Research suggests that agile provides a ton of benefits to organizations,including increased pro-ductivity,happier employees,reduced expenses,higher-quality products,faster time-to-market and,overall,more business va

23、lue.This is due to the fact that agile methods focus on empowering small teams,breaking complex problems into smaller“sprints”,accelerating the prototyping and development process,using tight feedback loops to inform future iterations,and integrating all of these parts into a larger coherent whole.A

24、s Jeff Bezos famously remarked,if you cant feed everyone in a meeting with two pizzas,your meeting is too big and therefore wont be produc-tive.5Agile teams start out with a rough idea.While it might it seem like a fantastic one to start,the team understands that the original idea will almost never

25、be the final outcome.Instead,teams build some-thing that is simple but complete enough that the consumer can visualize the entire experience with that solution.Customers then share their experiences and react to the new idea in the context of their current behavior.Their feedback is then used to ite

26、rate.The process is repeated until the company ends up with a product that is truly one-of-a-kind and better than anything else out thereone that solves customers problems in a unique manner.see page 20 for the full list Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|8|What is A

27、gile Research?The graphic above should give you an idea as to how a product designed with agile research might evolve over time until its ultimately released.The skateboard is the metaphor for the most simple,basic solution you could deliver to meet consumer needs.Solve the biggest challenges first,

28、then continue to build and refine until you solve all of the issues required for the final solution.Why Agile Insights Are EffectiveSoftware developers already have an agile manifesto.At Digsite,weve put together our own take on the principles we believe consumer-driven innovation teams need to have

29、 in order to do their best work:1.2.3.4.5.see page 20 for the full list Quality of engagement over quantity of responsesExperiments and experiences over asking about attitudes and beliefsFocusing on the whys instead of measuring the whatLearning and iterating over static testingFlexible collaboratio

30、n over go/no-go decisionsAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|9|When researchers are guided by these principles,their organizations benefit from:A deeper understanding of what customers think.You cant do calculus if you dont know addition and subtraction.Similarly,you

31、cant design and build the best products if you guessing about what your customers wantand why.Agile lets you learn directly from your customers,iterate,and then learn upon what youve already learned.Reduced research expenses.Thanks to the online nature of agile research,companies can test a lot more

32、 concepts for a lot less money.One Digsite customer,Pella Windows and Doors,previously spent$51,000 testing 13 concepts the old-fashioned way.They switched to agile and were able to test 64 concepts for$60,000a reduction of almost 85%.Better insights in less time.Typically,Pella could test 10 concep

33、ts in just over four weeks.Thanks to Digsite,they can test at least 10 concepts in two weeksa 50%reduction in time.What is Agile Research?Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|10|How Agile Research Accelerates InnovationIn agile,speed is the outcome.Its not the how.You

34、dont just keep doing what youre already do-ing,just a little bit faster.Agile prioritizes iterations,not brilliant product teams that are expected to do no wrong.While your team still comes up with ideas to be tested,they interact with customers earlier in the pro-cessknowing that their initial idea

35、s are only a starting point.Compare that to the historic approach where product teams worked hard to develop ideas they thought were spectacular and then tested them in big quantitative studies with little iteration.information to inform future iterationsand repeating the process several times until

36、 youre satisfied with the final outcomeyoure able to solve more complex problems and create products,designs and campaigns that are ultimately better received.This ap-proach helps you avoid the common problems that have often slowed development teams downlike suboptimal concept scores late in develo

37、pment or product testing results that reveal youre not actually delivering on the concept.see page 20 for the full list How Agile Iteration WorksDivergence vs.ConvergenceTraditionally,research has told us to focus on convergence,i.e.,picking a single solution or get-ting a go/no-go answer and sticki

38、ng to it.Agile,on the other hand,teaches us to diverge and converge more frequently.Teams are expect-ed to discover that their ideas have problems sooner in the development process.By using that Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|11|A real-world exampleWhat does this

39、 look like in real life?Sub-Zero,a global manufacturer of kitchen appliances,determined that a two-week delay in a product rollout could set them back$1 million.They also knew that releasing a product before it was ready could have other devastating consequences.Under their old approach,Sub-Zero oft

40、en encountered product launch delays or ended up launching products the team knew could have been better.On one occasion,consumers brought up usability concerns during field tests,but the company was unable to resolve them because it was in too late a stage of development.A problem that would have c

41、ost almost nothing to re-solve a few months before now required huge investments to rework.To ensure they could release great products on time,the appliance maker adopted an agile ap-proach to product development using Digsite.The company started conducting real-time research during their in-home fi

42、eld trials with consumers rather than waiting for interviews or surveys after a full 90-day field trial.This enabled them to identify problems and opportunities faster and ultimately meet their release dates while saving$2.5 million in warranty claims.How Agile Research Accelerates InnovationAgile R

43、esearch Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|12|How to Get Started with Agile ResearchYou understand what agile research is and how it can help your organization move faster while making better decisions.But how exactly do you get agile started at your organization?Understand the Pro

44、cess In the software development world,agile teams get work done during sprints,which are typically two-week periods where a small number of problems and ideas are prioritized.Thanks to online tools that streamline the process,agile research is completed in sprints,too.Instead of relying on research

45、 that was completed months agoor waiting until after the sprint to test the solutionthe agile methodology enables you to build and learn at the same time.7Market research sprints can be broken down into five steps:Step One:Forming agile teams.Accelerating research starts with assigning innovation pr

46、ojects to a team that is empowered to make decisions.Build a cross-functional team that includes a product manager,a researcher and a designer or developer.Be careful,however,not to put too many people on one team.Four-to-eight individuals should suffice.Step Two:Prioritizing the focus.If your team

47、has a million questions at once,you might have a hard time finding the data youre looking for.Eliminate the noise and find the signal by priori-tizing the biggest problems and challenges and hypothesizing and brainstorming solutions that might address that problem.The more specific your focus is,the

48、 stronger your results will be.Step Three:Designing and researching.Next,you need to figure out what your research sprint will actually look like.For example,if you want to find out how customers interact with your products,you might want them to record videos or take pictures.If you need to collect

49、 a lot of in-context information,you may only talk to five to 10 people.If you are pri-oritizing a lot of ideas,you may want to talk to 25 to 75 people.see page 20 for the full list Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|13|Step Four:Learning and iterating.Now that youve

50、 formed your team,determined your focus,and designed your research,its time to gather your data.Observe your participants,interact with them,and collaborate with your team.Leading online tools give you instant access to tar-geted consumers,let you capture behaviors and feedback,and go back to partic

51、ipants to dig into the whys and iterate as you learn.How to Get Started with Agile Researchsee page 20 for the full list Step Five:Reflecting on and repeating the process.At the end of your sprint,you should have a good idea about what worked and what didnt.Adjust your research process accordingly a

52、nd refine your approach ahead of your next sprint.Now that youve got a good idea about the agile research process,lets turn our attention toward the tools you need to succeed.*https:/blog-mural.co/remote-design-sprints-cant-work-can-they*Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate F

53、aster|14|How to Get Started with Agile ResearchFigure Out Which Tools You NeedIf youre going to streamline the research process,you need tools that can keep pace.Digsite can serve as your underlying agile research platform.But youll still need to track progress,com-municate with your team,and collab

54、orate.Use a kanban-type platform like Trello to track your sprint progress,a platform like MURAL to manage design sprints,and a messaging service like Slack to communicate and collaborate with your team in real time.Get Your Team On BoardNot everyone at your organization will be excited about changi

55、ng the way you do things.Peo-ple can get stuck in their ways,and many employees fear change,especially when technology is involved.There are always some bumps along the way when youre trying a new approach.For the best results,the team you select needs to know that youve got their back.One way to ea

56、se into change is to start with a test project and team of rock stars that you believe is open to trying new things.Gather your team and explain that you would like to try a new re-search approach that you believe will give the team better answers to their research questions.Tell them that you need

57、them to commit to spending 30 minutes a day on a research sprint.Explain how the new approach will enable the team to use consumer feedback to create more innovative solutions in less timewhile helping them develop new skills(e.g.,agile research ex-perience and exposure to a new platform).Once youve

58、 put together a committed team,its time to sell agile to your organization in a broader sense.see page 20 for the full list Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|15|How to Get Started with Agile ResearchSell Agile to Your OrganizationAdopting agile approaches and techno

59、logy can some-times create fear that new tools may actually force them out of their jobs.Agile research wont replace researchers.It will,how-ever,enable them to do their best work.To get the results youre looking for,you need to get your organi-zation to buy in to qualitative research rather than ju

60、st quantitative testing.Heres how to do that:1 Socialize the concept and explain the value.Not only is it cheaper and faster to conduct agile research,youll also get better insights because people are more likely to be honest when theyre answering questions online.You can also easily ask follow-up q

61、uestions to drill even deeper.Create content to influence the right people.Studies show that presentations that include visuals are 43%more effective.11 Pitch your ideas to appropriate decision makers and use images,videos and other visuals to increase the chances you successfully persuade them.Show

62、 how easy agile is.Demonstrate how tools like Digsite,Trello and Slack can be used to streamline the research process.Discuss features like automated reporting,which helps teams easily tabulate results and share key responses.see page 20 for the full list Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Te

63、ams Can Innovate Faster|16|How to Get Started with Agile Research Explain why capturing experiences is important.Getting feedback that explains precisely how your customers are using your products or interacting with your solutions is critical to under-standing what improvements you need to make.Lea

64、rn which stakeholders will benefit from qualitative.Figure out which members of your team are most likely to benefit from agile research.Get to know them and tell them specifica-ly what agile will mean for their jobs and what impact it will have on their effectiveness.A Quickstart Guide to Agile Res

65、earchYoure ready to tackle your first agile research sprint.Awesome!Lets summarize the above in a few bullet points that you can reference as a quick guide as you get started:Understand the process.You need people and you need focus.And you need to build early ideas for solutions to test.With the ri

66、ght data on hand,you can iterate and test again as needed.Once youre done,reflect on the process and see what can be improved.Figure out which tools you need.You cant use old tools to do modern work.Platforms like Digsite,Trello,Slack,and MURAL can help your agile team stay aligned through each spri

67、nt.see page 20 for the full list Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|17|How to Get Started with Agile Research Get your team on board.Reach out to your team to find out whos interested in helping you.Explain how agile research wont take up all of their time but will h

68、elp them do their best work.Sell agile across your organization.Once you have a few agile evangelists on your side,itll be easier to get even more folks on board with your new approach to research.Plan your first sprint.With a thorough understanding of agile research and the right tools and people i

69、n place,its time to kick off your inaugural sprint.Once youre done,reflect on your experience,figure out how you can further improve the process and move on to your next sprint.Remember,agile doesnt have to take much time.You can wrap up an entire sprint in five short days.12 And,believe it or not,s

70、ome companies can often recruit research participants in as little as one business day.You know your needs better than anyone else.Come up with a plan,stick to it,and youll do just fine.see page 20 for the full list see page 20 for the full list*https:/blog-mural.co/remote-design-sprints-cant-work-c

71、an-they*Natural Language Processing SupportText to Video ClipAgile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|18|Inspiring Agile ResearchStories&Their HeroesTo give you a better idea about how agile research can transform your organization,lets turn our attention to two more custo

72、mer success stories to see how real-world consumer products com-panies have used agile research to deliver exemplary experiences to their customers.American Family InsuranceAmerican Family Insurance wanted to implement a new company vision.But the consumer in-sights department leading the initiative

73、 was seen as slow,expensive and predictableand sowere the methods they used.Design and development teams were actually conducting man-on-the-street interviews to get rapid consumer feedback,instead of working with internal researchers.So Giustina Parisi,consumer and portfo-lio insights manager,decid

74、ed to build a sprint process for the research team,using Digsite as their agile research technology partner.To sell agile internally,she defined the process and tools,found an internal advocate,created a quick win pilot program,refined it all into a repeatable process,and spread the word.Thanks to D

75、igsite,Parisi and her team were able to complete more research within her budget.In fact,they were able enjoy a tenfold increase in research volume with the same budget they had used for traditional in-person testing.The American Family Insurance team used Digsites instant recruiting and research sp

76、rint model to spin up on-demand custom research communities.This enabled them to drastically shorten the time from kickoff to results while repositioning the research department as a must-have nimble resource.Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|19|Inspiring Agile Rese

77、archStories&Their HeroesPalermos PizzaPalermos Pizza did not have an internal research team,so then Vice President of Marketing Mike Pytlinski turned to Digsite.After the success of the companys Screamin Sicilian product,Pytlins-ki knew he had the opportunity to create a scalable approach to researc

78、h that enabled him to economically complete dozens of research sprints and repeat that success.To Pytlinski,the key was not relying on traditional research methodslike surveys and focus groupsthat have long been the mainstay of big brands.He was looking for new tools that en-abled him to drill deepe

79、r and operate with more flexibility.Digsite enabled him to get fast results and meet quick launch timelines.Pytlinski used a full-service sprint model with Digsite.He could rely on Digsite to set up and launch a community within a few days.The Palermos team took advantage of the capability to pre-id

80、entify users that matched their target audience.They also used templates to conduct re-search faster and reporting tools to find the data they needed to move forward with confidence.Given their lean marketing team,Pytlinski opted to use Digsite consultants to conduct the re-search and provide toplin

81、e reporting.His team then focused on designing the research sprints and iterating on the results internally.As a result,Palermos found an end-to-end agile research solution in Digsite,helping them quickly expand their brands,products and target users.Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams C

82、an Innovate Faster|20|1.Get feedback from internal stakeholders.Find out how folks in your organization think about your agile initiatives.Use that feedback to refine your approach to selling agile internally.2.Agree on a core set of agile principles.Determine which principles will guide your team.E

83、mbrace quality engagements,experiments and experiences,learning and iteration,and flexible col-laboration.Focus on the whys instead of the whats.3.Differentiate what you learn vs.what you test.Aim to uncover the most important benefits,features,concepts,and imagery associated with certain products o

84、r campaigns and ignore the extraneous information youll learn.4.Build sprints that have qualitative capabilities.Ask specific people specific questions.Leverage their answers to drill down further,finding out why your customers feel certain ways.5.Standardize your research sprint process.Build a rep

85、eatable process that can be used by teams across your organization,if applicable.*https:/blog.mural.co/remote-design-sprints-cant-work-can-they10 Secrets to Successwith Agile*Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|21|6.Get your team set up with agile collaboration tools.

86、Equip your team with modern tools designed for the modern way of working.7.Standardize your participant screening process.Figure out who your target audience should be and find out what you need to do to make sure you talk to the right people.8.Build rapid sample access.Ad hoc recruiting can delay y

87、our research sprints by weeks,de-pending on the complexity of the recruit.Agile sprints are usually most effective when you have access to samples overnight.9.Rethink your analysis.Think about whether your findings are actually accurate or whether youre seeing the things you want see.Ask par-ticipan

88、ts follow-up questions to narrow down your conclusions.10.Facilitate cross-functional design sprints.Get folks from all relevant departments involved in the mix.The more engaged your team is,the easier it will be to spread agile across your organization.10 Secrets to Successwith Agile*https:/blog.mural.co/remote-design-sprints-cant-work-can-they*Agile Research Guide:How Consumer Product Teams Can Innovate Faster|22|ENDNOTES1https:/ 6https:/ 7https:/ 8https:/hbr.org/1996/05/why-do-employees-resist-change 9https:/ report 10https:/