Change is the only constant we know. 61%* of consumers say their priorities keep changing since the world around them is in a state of flux. As a brand you need to surf the wave of change and stay connected with these ever-changing consumer expectations. Rather than taking a snapshot of your consumers’ everyday life and behaviour, you need to establish an ongoing dialogue between consumers and internal stakeholders. This is where online research communities come in. But is your business ready to move from an ad hoc to a structural approach? Here are three dimensions to consider:

1. Research requests are constantly flowing

If your internal teams require the consumers’ perspective on a consistent basis, then it’s time to consider a structural online research community. If you’re reaching out to the same sample groups at least once a month, you’ve hit the threshold for an ongoing consumer connection. A structural online research community can provide you with more and varied consumer input to help you better understand and co-create with your customers.

Take L’Oréal, for example. Since March 2021, we’ve partnered with their U.S. Research & Innovation team on the Beauty Co-Lab. This vibrant online research community includes over 1,200 engaged beauty enthusiasts eager to share their thoughts on products. Today, the Beauty Co-Lab is a vital part of L’Oréal’s product development strategy. Its speed and agility perfectly align with the demands of rapid innovation, ensuring more products reach consumers faster.

2. Smooth sailing for stakeholders

Ensuring stakeholders are onboard is critical to the success of an online research community. Before launching the community, spend focused time setting expectations on use cases and timing. If stakeholders are hesitant, consider defining focused pilots, such as smaller-scale sample requirements or short-term, focused research goals, to showcase the impact through lower investment options. Engaging stakeholders before launch and throughout the online research community’s lifecycle allows for continued focus on bright spots and success stories. This enables stakeholders to make decisions based on strong intuition giving your organization confidence to act on these insights.

3. Dive into your consumers’ world

Structural online research communities provide teams with a constant consumer connection. This gives your brand the agility to keep up with the fast-paced environment we live in today. It also provides longevity with the same audience. You can tap into the same audience to understand the entire consumer journey not just parts of it.  It gives us the opportunity to get a holistic view of your audiences and to better understand the role brands play in their lives and identify additional opportunities. It is not just about buying the product or consuming the product but the entire path to purchase journey and beyond. Embrace the longevity of an online research community.

For instance, the AIA360 community, launched in 2018 for insurer AIA, supports a variety of customer-driven initiatives, including the CX Evangelist programme. Here, knowledgeable customer-facing staff collaborate to design an agile, iterative research process. Since then, we’ve empowered AIA to map different stages of the customer journey, building further on insights year after year.

By assessing your organisation on these three dimensions, you can determine whether the time is right to steer your organisation to a structural insight community. This will help your brand become more human-centric. By giving your audiences a seat at the table, you can keep them at the front of strategic and tactical business decision making.

*Source: proprietary Human8 study 2022