It is generally accepted that in order to sustain innovative developments it is vital to research the market; this area itself is not often associated with innovation.

One organisation determined to prove otherwise is market research company Explain which has been at the forefront of market research innovation for 20 years and working with digital partner Better has recently launched a completely new way of engaging and researching different market sectors with customers.

Looking to invest in new approaches to market research using online platforms and Smartphone apps, Explain has joined the Innovation Programme.

The product, marked as Better Communities, capitalists on the growing use of social media and harnesses digital technology to provide a platform by which organisations can engage with their customers.Unlike Twitter or Facebook, the customer is invited by an organisation to join a private community so that they can exchange ideas and comments without competitors keeping tabs on the latest thinking and pool of ideas.

Market research companies have used panels of customers for insight and feedback over many years but the benefit of Better Communities is that it allows complete transparency so that the customer can start the process and debate, not just the sponsor, that is a huge step in innovation.

David Shiel, managing director of Explain, said:

“By tapping into innovation we can develop digital focus groups which make it so much easier to engage with our customers and stakeholders without the usual constraints of time and location planning.”

“Our experience has been that retail, utility and social housing companies all quickly seized the opportunity to take a giant step forward in their knowledge about the customer.”

“Having access to a massive database of customers reduces the cost of research and provides better, faster information.”

Chris Hylton, innovation manager (interim)at the North East Business and Innovation Centre, said: “It is an exciting time on the programme, welcoming companies like Explain on board.

“Explain are a great example of an innovative company, the business constantly evolves into new ways of market research and this is illustrated by the longevity of the company.

“I look forward to seeing how the company can evolve over the next three years using the programme.”

The business constantly evolves into new ways of market research and this is illustrated by its longevity.

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The presentation Adam gave was part of the campaign set up by Housing Minister Grant Shapps and the government’s UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox as a means of bringing the same digital opportunities to social housing customers as are enjoyed by millions of others.

4.1m of the 8.7m adults who have never been online are in social housing and digital skills are a vital route to financial literacy, education, employability and wellbeing. They give tenants choice and control as well as access to lower cost, better services.

Home has been involved with the Digital Inclusion National Strategy steering group for over a year now and as well as launching a digital community they have introduced hundreds of customers and clients to the benefit of the web.

Emma Dallolio, head of quantitative research, said;

“Communities provide the means to engage with customers across the board but can also drill down to individual social housing developments; this was key to the Home Community’s role in providing insight in real time, critical to service delivery on a local and national level.”

Martha Lane Fox’s full speech at the House of Commons launch of the Housing Technology 2012 “Digital by Default” report.

Freddie Wong, 32, an avid skateboarder, joined Explain in the New Year and brings with him 10 years experience from a career in public sector research and management consultancy.

Freddie joins the team as Explain approaches the end of a financial year that has seen the successful launch of their Better Communities customer engagement product and a 20% increase in core business growth taking sales to a record level. Freddie will be managing the accounts of some of Explains largest clients including Northumbrian Water with whom Explain have a relationship spanning 12 years.

Head of Quantitative Research, Emma Dallolio said:

“Freddie is joining the Explain team at a really exciting time for the company which will be challenging for him but since he brings a wealth of experience, we are confident he will be able to make an immediate contribution in helping drive Explain towards achieving sales of £1m for the first time in the company’s history.”

The ‘Online Community’ has been developed and launched to support ongoing customer and client engagement focusing on developing insight into the needs of customers. Home customers will now have 24/7 online access to discussions with other customers, focus groups, polls, and surveys as well as direct access to feedback through the community.

The new virtual platform was launched in the latest Home Group newsletter with the article below:

“Online Community is an innovative approach to customer and client involvement and customer insight. The virtual community makes it easier for people to tell us what they think, discuss current and new initiatives within Home with other customers and to take part in surveys and polls about our services.

This is the first time that Home has utilised the power of social media with customers and clients and already you’re having an impact on what we do and the decisions we’re making.

Joining the community is easy. Follow the link from the Home Group website and register to join, answering a few short questions. You will be emailed your login details and you’re ready to begin.

Have a go and let us know what you think. You can also follow us on twitter @wearehomegroup.”

A brand owner is sat in a focus group of his customers. They are sat in a semi circle facing him, shuffling in their seats and quietly mumbling as they settle.

Brand Owner: “Right, let’s begin. Now, I’m pretty confident I know what you’re going to say…” Silence.

An unlikely senario? Maybe, but it does crudely highlight the biggest barrier to insight, a pre-conception that you already know your consumer.

Consumer insight is now a key business driver in many boardrooms. A recent article in Marketing Week collected the key learning that came from their 1-2-1 Research and Insight Summit, that brought together insight specialists from William Hill, RSA, BSkyB, Office Depot and Citi/Egg.

It’s worth reading and the big take out from the summit for me is that any directional change, operational or competitive should be insight led. Businesses considering developing new products, improving customer services, re-aligning brands etc. should seek to deeply understand the potential impact on the consumer before they engage in a programme of change.

Many of the experts questioned have used online private communities as the key engagement channel to harvest insight, replacing traditional surveys, email questionnaires and customer panels with a digital platform that modern social media users are used to using.

It is predicted that we will see increasing numbers of companies using online communities in the coming year however, the same experts stressed that skilled researchers are needed to guide the engagement and produce the richest insights, alongside a digital team that can deliver a platform that meets your requirements. People need to feel they are being listened to and that their contribution is making a difference to the brand. When they see that happening community members feel confident enough to open up and at that point rapport turns into a deepening relationship.

A skilled community manager can implement a strategy of engagement with clear objectives that feeds a conversation, that grows organically and they are trained to spot and develop insight from the conversations that take place within a community.

The near future will see brand owners use technology not only to reach an audience that is dispersed across many digital territories but begin to pull them into spaces where deep insight can be discovered. By bringing audiences closer to the heart of their brands, immersing them in the every aspect of their business; it is customer service, product and service design and marketing that will ultimately benefit.

Newcastle-based Explain Research said revenues in the first quarter of the year – which are based on fees – leapt by 44%, largely on the back of contracts with the Yorkshire and Skipton Building Societies.

The independent market research firm, which has around 30 staff, also won work from the North East Strategic Health Authority, even though the NHS is currently slashing its budgets to meet Government cuts.

Managing director David Shiel said: “To be honest, the year has started exceptionally well for us. The first quarter has turned out to be the best ever.

“One or two of the sectors that had been quiet with the banking crisis – financial services – picked up again.

“Even people we thought we’d lose – the NHS, particularly with the changes going on. But the PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) and some of the health authorities are still spending money on things like obesity, alcoholism and teenage pregnancies. We haven’t lost as much as we’d expected.

“July is maintaining a 40% increase and projection for the first half of the year is a rise of just over 40%. The demand for core research is very, very strong.”

Explain now expects turnover to hit £1.1m this year, up from around £830,000. Shiel says the net margin for profitability is around 15%-20%.

The increase in demand for Explain’s traditional services comes before the company starts to reap rewards from its latest social media product, Better Community.

The service, which is aimed at large organisations that need to communicate with their customers, was launched in January after being developed with Stokesley-based social media and branding agency, Better.

Shiel said: “We have no competition at the moment. In 12 months’ time there will be other people.

“It’s a private, online community for very large organisations. A lot of large companies are struggling with social media – they are using the usual, Facebook and Twitter.

“We’ve developed a way of having all that social interchange with their customers. It raises the consumer to the top priority and we manage that engagement.

“We have orders from Northumbrian Water, Scottish Power, CE electric and Home for Better Communities, so that is going to help us deliver consistent growth throughout the full financial year.”

Explain has a further 15 expressions of interest in the system and has set itself a target of converting five of those into orders.

Shiel said: “It’s certainly going to drive the revenue stream. It’s non-traditional and it is something that’s a must for a lot of large organisations.

“We are convinced we are going to get on to a new platform for the business.”

View this article online on NE Business.

Some brands over do it, they invade their customer’s space, their content is unfiltered and not always relevant, whilst others hold too much to themselves leaving the customer to feel like a commodity not a co-creator and collaborator. A glut, feast or famine, getting the balance and tone right is vitally important as Martin Thomas, author of Loose suggests, social media needs only three actions to work well: be human, be responsive and be open.A great post written by Amy Duff in Director Magazine explores the challenges faced by businesses and governments in this age of enlightened, connected consumers.

Amazingly, some organisation struggle with this concept. A corporate tone of voice doesn’t inspire anyone, in fact it can feel like we’re being spoken at rather than engaged with. This is a legacy of a world that we wish no longer existed, when brands told you what they wanted you to know. Enough has been written about the demise of this kind of thinking and yet it still persists in the closed minds of some CEOs and MDs which unfortunately permeates throughout their organisations.

Be human. People are attracted to people not the corporate line of a faceless brand. Regardless of the good intentions, if the tone of voice isn’t right people wont engage. Spend some time listening to your audience and you may find there is a big disconnect there, but see this as an opportunity not hurdle to high to jump.

Engagement is two way. If we build these channels to our customers and we create the conditions for a conversation to happen be prepared to repsond and do so in timely fashion. There is no greater tragedy than a missed opportunity to get into a dialogue with our customers because without dialoge we learn nothing and without learning how can we hope to create products and services people want to buy?

Innovator and R & D companies argue that secrecy is a valuable weapon. No one is suggesting you give away the crown jewels but the opportunity for opening the door to innovation and R & D and inviting your customers and internal teams to contribute and add value to product design is a 21st century necessity. Taking risks in business, especially investing in innovation is calculated. Doing this without your customer’s input increases this risk many fold.

Being in a community space with your customer vastly reduces the cost of innovation and creates fresh insight that ensures you develop the products and services that people need faster. This type of engagement also fits with the lifestyles and experiences of todays enlightened, connected consumers. The tools available are familiar to them, engagement takes place when and where they want it and organisations, for the first time, can get immediate unfiltered feedback. A contribution that directly influences their product and service design.

As Thomas says, “Show the world that you are real and that you care about what your audience thinks.”

Julie Moore who takes up the role of Studio Manager, joined Better from Codeworks, one of the North East’s leading membership organisations and conference creators. Julie will work closely with Better’s designers and developers on client projects and support the accounts team to ensure the company maintains an exemplary focus on creativity and customer experience.

Mark Easby, Managing Director, said: ”Julie brings a wealth of project management experience, having an outstanding track record in managing internationally recognised conferences in the digital sector such as DIBI and Gateshead Digital Summer and was part of the Thinking Digital team. She’s a gifted communicator, organiser and will bring those skills to bare on our clients projects.”

“Julie is an highly experienced, self motivated manager who shares the company’s drive to succeed.”

Julie has already got her teeth into a number projects for key agency clients as well as the agency’s new community platform, Better Communities. She is also hard at work further streamlining and evolving the company’s project process.

Speaking of her new role, Julie Moore said: “I am really delighted to have joined the team at Better. They’re a young company with an established reputation in the region with a growing profile nationally. Add to this their exciting new digital community platform that is already being taken up by national and international organisations and this was exactly the kind of company I wanted to join.”

Julie’s appointment is the third new team member at Better in the last twelve months, a testament to its continued growth. The company puts its commitment to customer care, transparency and staff development as factors in its growth and its recent award at the Service Network Culture of Success Awards 2011.

Better has also won a number of national and international accounts in the last twelve months including Scottish Power Energy Networks, Northumbria Water, The Trout Hotel, Home, Crafter’s Companion, UK & Ireland SAP User Group and the Swedish SAP User Association.

You can follow Julie on Twitter at @MissJulieMoore or keep up to date with Better through @Better_Studio.

The benefits of this are obvious; the cost of innovation is less, as brands build what their audiences tell them what they want, this reduces the inherent risks of NPD and ultimately turns audiences into strong advocates of the products they’ve helped create.

Innovating with crowds doesn’t just mean working with customers it also includes an organisations own employees, as Deutsche Boerse and NYSE did when they asked their combined 6000 employees to suggest a new brand name when they recently merged.

How you engage however is vitally important if it is to be successful. Crowds won’t just give you what you want as Wranger is finding out with a lack luster ‘Next Blue’ campaign. With $5000 on offer for the designer of a new jean they want to produce, it’s only had 18 entires and 4 likes on their Facebook page to date!

Engagement has to be mutually rewarding, inventive, entertaining and be seen by the audience as a worthwhile endeavour. If the objective is ‘Let’s create something together’ and you have a history of engagement as Innocent Drinks has, you’ll find the crowd you need. If it’s ‘Do our job for us’ and it’s the first time of asking, it’s less likely to inspire an audience to join in.

The article goes on to showcase Innocent Drinks latest TV ad and product labelling crowdsourcing project saying “Innocent has a strong history of engaging its customers, having previously asked them to contribute ideas to product packaging, to test new products, and most recently to suggest a caption for its product labelling. It has also invited fans / budding directors to create a new 30-second ad, which will be shown on TV. Innocent’s fans are being asked to vote for the winning ad, and the winner will be awarded £5,000 in cash.”

View the ad below and see what you think…

Simon is an internationally experienced business development professional, having worked with companies of all sizes and stages of growth. He has experience in R&D, new product introduction, operations, change management and product management within the chemical & pharmaceutical industry. Following a PhD in Organic Chemistry, Simon worked in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry developing skills across a number of disciplines supporting the commercialisation of technology.

Most recently, Simon worked for One North East, the regional development agency leading international business development. As a head of team for the Business Investment activities he led the Agency’s strategic interaction with business in the region and had oversight of regional sector strategies and funding initiatives, including the finance business north-east portfolio and government grants. In October 2010 Simon formed Key Strengths limited, to work with businesses and individuals as strategic advisor helping them to develop their business and their talent.

Commenting on the new appointment Explain Managing Director David Shiel said; ‘We are extremely fortunate to gain someone of Simon’s calibre to help build sales revenue and guide strategic policy. He brings a wealth of highly relevant experience that will be a vital cog in growing the portfolio of clients for Better Communities, the new social media product we launched in December and jointly developed with Better. We already have orders from utilities, social housing providers and retailers but we want to grow the product in the public sector and with large private businesses that have a big database of customers and stakeholders.

Last month we appointed a new non-executive director and with Simon we now have the senior team in place to double turnover in the next 2 years’

Simon said, ‘I am delighted and excited by the opportunity to work with Explain with the Better Communities product having just been launched. I am looking forward to helping them develop clients in new market sectors for the product and for their core research services’.

For more information contact Rebecca Johnson on 0191 261 5261 or visit www.explainresearch.co.uk.