Alison Lawson
Something strange happened to me one day on the way into Watford town centre at lunchtime back in about 2001. I thought going to pick up a sandwich for my lunch would be the usual trip, but no! As I made my way into town from West Herts College (where I was working as a Senior Lecturer in Publishing) a woman approached me and asked if I would like to take part in some research. Well, how could I refuse?
It was research about relaunching a former 1970s pop star’s career. The researchers had hired a small venue on the high street and were asking what appeared to be random pedestrians to step in and give their views about a range of album covers. There were about a dozen pieces of artwork mocked up to look like record sleeves (it was over 20 years ago so records were still available) showing the artist in various poses – face on, side on, smiling, not smiling, head and shoulders only, whole figure, different outfits, etc. I was asked to look carefully at the artwork and say which I liked best. Although they didn’t say it, what they wanted to know was which one I felt was the most likely to prompt customers to buy the product and was therefore the one most likely to inspire customers to buy into the career of this pop star and support him in his second stab at stardom.
After some demographic form-filling, I went into the hall and stood in surprise, my mouth hanging open, as I was faced by many images of Leo Sayer, the singer of fabulous hits such as ‘You make me feel like dancing’ and ‘When I need you’ from the 1970s. He had been extremely popular and those who had liked him in the 1970s still had fond memories of his songs and maybe, like me, of his cute, doll-like appearance and big hair. But was he ever going to make it again in the world of Robbie Williams, Eminem and Limp Bizkit? Maybe… after all the various Spice Girls were forging solo careers at that point and Kylie Minogue had made a spectacular comeback. Even Bob the Builder had a hit in 2001. But in my heart of hearts, I couldn’t see the appeal and I told the researchers that although I could imagine Leo Sayer writing hits for other artists, I couldn’t imagine him making a comeback as a solo artist no matter how impressive the album cover. (His comeback, when it came, was several years later and in Australia, where he now lives.)
I went on my way and many times since then I have thought about that experience on Watford High Street. Was this the beginning of the research exercise or the end? Had Leo already recorded an album and the research team was now looking at promotion options? Or was the comeback merely an idea for exploration and the team was doing some preliminary work to find out if it was worthwhile making the considerable investment that would be needed for it to work? Were these researchers part of Leo Sayer’s management team or were they from an agency hired to do this piece of customer research? Why did they choose this method? Why did they choose me – did I fit their desired demographic or was it random? What insights did they hope to gain from this exercise? How did those insights inform their decision making about product development and branding? Aside from my interest in the research method (which I may explore in my other blog, Musings on methodology) I was struck by the importance of the customer in the planned comeback.
It is crucial to understand what customers think. What their views, opinions and values are. What their attitude to your brand, product or service is now and how that can affect their intention to purchase. If customers do not want or need what you have to offer, if it is in their view poor quality, poor value or of no benefit to them, they will not buy it. If they feel your organisation should not be supported for some reason or it does not fit with their values and principles, then will not buy from you. In fashionable goods your product will not move if it is not on trend. Customers’ views are, therefore, of paramount importance not only during product/service development but throughout the lifetime of that product/service. Without the support of customers, our brands, products and services would not exist. Happy customers are key to success.
No matter the stage at which the customer research work was done for Leo Sayer’s planned comeback that day in Watford, the important fact is that they were consulting customers at all. Perhaps they found that customer opinion was not conducive to a relaunch. The time wasn’t right in the UK. Or maybe they found that some parts of the market were very keen and supportive but that these parts of the market weren’t large enough to take the risk of a relaunch. The researchers would certainly have gathered a huge amount of data – not just about the album covers but about what people said about the artist while in the research venue. Getting a feel for customer opinion and gathering as much data as possible can be used to form great insights for organisations so the value of this kind of exercise cannot be underestimated.
Research with customers can be conducted in many ways and some are more expensive and time-consuming than others. But to be sure of a successful product/service design, a successful launch and of happy customers that recommend your brand to their friends, it is better to invest in this kind of work rather than guess and hope, which could be even more costly in the long term.