Mining For Insights
Posted on April 2, 2008 - Filed Under On Ideation
The most successful ideas are born out of brilliant insights. This is because the insight allows you to uncover a universal truth about people. You can then leverage that truth to help them improve their lives.
One of the most striking insights over the past couple of years was one about the myth of “real beauty”. So many women realize that they’re not going to acheive the perfect image of beauty portrayed in the media and advertising. Even though everyone knew this, it was Dove that was able to leverage it to create a movement - the Campaign for Real Beauty.
How do we find these insights? How do we uncover a universal truth that appears hidden to everyone outside a specific group? The old way would consist of the following:
- Focus groups
- One on one interviews
- Surveys
- Usability testing and labs
What’s the problem with these methods? They are not authentic. They are controlled environments where your “audience” knows that you are taking notes. So their behaviour changes. Their answers are different.
Additionally, you rarely get the insights you need by asking questions. insights are derived from observing real behaviour. This is because, as people, we don’t really know what we want. As Henry Ford put it:
“If I listened to what people wanted, I would have built a better horse-drawn carriage.”
The new way of mining insights is digital anthropology. With the vast array of niche cultural communities online, one can now observe honest conversations and interactions. All you need is your brain and this toolbox:
Source: Paul Isakson
The transparency of the internet now allows people access to an unprecedented level of authentic conversations. The cost of entry is so low to create a community online, that you can find blogs, groups and websites catering to every consumer niche.
So when you’re looking for insights to fuel your next big idea, log on and observe some real conversations.
- Christian
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You beat me to punch again! Love the concept of virtual anthropology - there are cool groups on Flickr where you can see what people have in their fridges, purses, garages, houses. It’s interesting because you can start making hypotheses and connections with how people are actually using your product. It’s a small sample so you can’t take it as directional research but as you mention its a good place to start mining for insights. Great post.