Like most people pressed for time, I scan the news headlines just to get a sense of what’s going on in the world, from the missile antics of North Korea, to the frenzy state of bitcoin. Speaking of bitcoin, there’s been a wave of news lately regarding the legitimacy and astronomical price increase of bitcoin. Many financial analysts are warning the bubble will eventually burst, while others claim it’s the digital currency of the future, and you need to invest now.

In a chaotic global economy powered by escalating consumer expectations and hyper competition, simply having a great product idea is no longer enough to guarantee success. Instead, companies that seek profitable growth must commit to research-driven product and service innovation to keep up with—or surpass—the competition. Put simply, companies must continually bring the voice of their customers into their innovation labs, engineering offices, marketing teams and executive boardrooms if they want to guarantee consistent growth.

After attending the 2013 EMACS and my 5th Chartwell conference, the trending strategies for utilities is becoming clear: Listen. Connect. Understand. Participants at the conference show us how they're doing this: Listening leads to better business.

If you have been a silent advocate for all the benefits that market research (MR) can bring to your company, then we’re here to help you find your voice. Our Ultimate Guide to Proving Your Market Research ROI brings research to the forefront as a key player in achieving business objectives, optimizing strategies, and—most importantly—improving return on investment (ROI).

Editor’s note: we interview Philip Atkins, director of client services, who talks about how returning to and clarifying project objectives can help ensure that research insights are not wasted with inactivity. As a market researcher, do you ever feel like other departments at your company don’t render the insights and recommendations gained in studies into actionable strategy? Here’s what it takes to get all the teams are on the same page. Get the right people sitting at the table

In the first 2 installments of this 3-part series, we made the case that market research return on invest (MR ROI) can be boosted by asking 5 key questions at the outset of a project and using action standards and benchmarks.

We are often asked how much study sample is needed when clients work with us to design a study. This question can be definitely answered with 2 other questions:

Congratulations, somebody shopped in your store.  Maybe somebody else will shop in your store, too.  Or maybe they’ll shop in someone else’s store.  Or maybe they’ll just say, “the heck with it” and go to a movie instead. Retailers keep us researchers in business for the purpose of answering one question: “why?”  Why our store?  Why that other guy’s store?  How was the movie?

Concept testing is nearly always part of a new product launch initiative—an important part, to be sure—but not the end all be all. When done correctly, product or concept testing can provide incredibly helpful insights into what your customers want.  Proper testing can anticipate what customers are likely to purchase, whether it happens to be some version of the new product or the same old one in a new, shiny wrapper.  Concept testing is a foundation that you can build on with the rest of the product development you’re doing. Here are five fundamentals to keep in mind when you next embark on product and concept testing research.

Conducting a refresh on your custom research panel is kind of like dragging your fall clothes out of the attic in October.  Ideally, everything you carefully put into place in the spring still fits, but in all likelihood, a few things are going to go to the thrift store and you’ll have to make a trip to the mall for new sweaters.