Building conscious consumer-centric corporate systems – Survival strategy in a rapidly changing world

Guest author:
Douwe Rademaker
global service line leader,
MSU
Ipsos

Today, when the world is transforming at breakneck speed and it is increasingly difficult to predict market changes and consumer behaviour, more and more companies use a conscious consumer-centric strategic approach. Such approaches are built on understanding consumer behaviour and developing products and services based on this insight.

Guest author:
Daan Versteeg
country manager
Ipsos in the Netherlands

Companies utilise various strategies for understanding their customers better, e.g. collecting large amounts of data, gathering information from market surveys, making personalised offers in digital channels, etc. However, if used separately, these strategies don’t make it possible to establish a consumer-centric organisation. Instead of this, our company offers a comprehensive strategic solution that relies on the latest results of neuroscience and on processing large quantities of data.

We have developed a system – based on world-famous neuroscientist Dr Giulio Tononi’s integrated information theory – that can improve the consumer consciousness of a company, called Corporate Consumer Consciousness Framework.

Elements of consumer consciousness

Translated by
Balázs Fehér
account director
Ipsos

Dr Tononi’s system relies on three elements, based on which a company with a high level of consumer consciousness must meet three criteria:

1. Access to information on consumers and connecting these pieces of information

There is no consumer consciousness without data on consumers, competitors, markets, trends, sales, online and offline shopper behaviour, customer relationship management (CRM) and brands. Companies need data strategy and architecture that make it possible for them to integrate large volumes of multi-source data into a single platform, and to manage and validate this set of data. Ipsos has developed a system for this: Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) is a digital platform that can perform these tasks (learn more at https: mma.com/solutions/).

2. A consumer data platform from which new insights can be created with the necessary analytic capabilities

Having integrated data isn’t enough in itself for achieving consumer consciousness at a company. According to the Integrated Information Theory, only a conscious network can generate new information. An insight is basically fundamental truth about brands, products or services, which is characteristic of actual consumer groups, and by knowing and utilising this insight a company can gain competitive advantage in the market. These insights can come from the human intelligence based meta-analysis of existing data, but they can also be generated by advanced computer assisted data analysis. This can only be done if the work of digital analysts, computer and data science experts, consumer researches and marketing specialists are connected at a company. Ipsos can help in building a complex system like this.

3. Activating consumer insights and providing feedback on these for the consumer data platform system

Building an integrated data strategy and uncovering new consumer insights isn’t always enough. Activating consumer insights and providing feedback on the results and consequences for the consumer data platform system is also essential in the learning process. Rapid feedback is needed to monitor the planning, the testing and the drawing of conclusions at all times. If used the right way, this will improve the learning ability of the organisation.

Success criteria for building conscious consumer-centric systems

In the following you can read five basic criteria that must be met if one wants to build a successful system.

1. Uncovering insights requires special skills – taking care about these and managing the insights should be the responsibility of the same manager.

2. The uncovered insights need to be comprehensive and holistic, ensuring that they are created by integrating every piece of data available.

3. Managing insights manually in a qualitative way will always be an important skill, but today digital analysis and data science are also key.

4. Collecting consumer data and uncovering insights shouldn’t be done in an ad hoc fashion.

5. In order to reduce complexity, such conscious consumer-centric systems must be built that are managed by a few, well-chosen external partners. //