In a previous post I mentioned that D for Data was a critical component for revealing insights about your customers. In today’s age, that is as close to “goes without saying” as you might be able to get. So this post is intended to define a simple approach to improving your D … or in sports term, “playing good D”.

First, a “customer advocacy” mechanism is required. For some established companies customer-centric thinking (and ordering of data and systems to deliver insights) is second nature and a distinct “advocacy” role, department, program or such would be unnecessarily bureaucracy. For most companies though, such a formally designated entity is a key building block. A customer advocate can help both develop and drive the systematic approach for discovering and leveraging customer insights, and be a peer at the management table when priorities and on-going investments must be clearly proposed or vigorously defended.

Second, in the infancy stages of a customer insights journey, a world-class, competitively differentiating customer insights data set and deep analytics capabilities are too grand and far off to achieve in the near term. The risk and complexity in achieving this higher stage of customer enlightenment can overwhelm and obscure what are most likely low hanging fruit — or what I like to call “pumpkins” (pumpkins are actually a fruit, and they are not just low hanging but they can be found on the ground ready to pick up). An iterative-experimental approach can give both a good chance to take advantage of the pumpkins along the way and build momentum toward achieving the higher stages of enlightenment within a reasonable time frame. How to do this?

I’ve used a three-part, interconnected process that includes Research, Analytics and Experimentation. These ideally are set up to work together, under one leader. There’s no one best way to set this up and the choice depends upon the organization’s culture and management style.

Research: this is the “compass” function within the overall process. It helps to set the direction for where the keenest insights might be found. It develops an on-going portfolio of customer data and sources through qualitative and quantitative research.

Analytics*: this is the “targeting” function. Using analytics techniques and sound experimental design approaches, it generates testable hypotheses about the next best place to go, within an achievable distance, from the current understanding of customers.

Experimentation: manages the experiment through to implementation and measurement of results, working in partnership with other parts of the organization, external partners, vendors, etc. to get it done.

The key is setting up such a process and team to iterate quickly, gaining the benefit of pumpkin insights and the benefit of honing the skills of implementation of customer insights in the most rapid way possible.

* not to be confused with the general, pervasively useful capability of “analytics” (see Kyle McNamara’s blog for a clear view of analytics).