We consider ourselves very lucky at Further. We get to work with interesting clients in different sectors all over the world. They use our tech and expertise for online market research in applications that are many and varied.
In our series, 'How We Roll', we'll be showcasing how we integrate with our clients, what they use our technology for and the successes they've had. Jenny Liu is Managing Partner of Answer Global Market Research. Based in Taiwan, Answer Global use Further's Together platform to perform online research for FMCG brands in Taiwan and China.
How did you first hear about Further and their online research technologies, how did the partnership come about?
I was at the ESOMAR APAC conference in 2016. There were a lot of interesting cases being presented on the stage, one of which was by Further's existing partner, Insites Consulting. They introduced me to Further and Stephen [Cribbett] reached out the same day I left him a message on LinkedIn, he was very sincere and committed to help us out every step of the way. It was a very important factor for us to have the courage and step outside of our comfort zone. We knew there would be a big change in everything we used to do well, and we needed a committed tour guide we could trust to help us through a journey into the'new world' of research.
Which sectors and clients does Answer-Global typically work with?
We mostly work with FMCG brands and retail brands such as Nestle, Coke, Kimberley Clark, Pizza Hut etc. in Taiwan, and also new and emerging digital clients in China.
Which questions are you helping your clients answer using Further's technology? What has the feedback been like so far?
Digital technologies have changed the consumer buying cycle. Our clients needed a better tool that can get to know the consumers in a fast, more user friendly and 'trackable' way. Online communities help them to explore, craft and evaluate new ideas in a timely fashion with lower cost; this has provided them a great solution between traditional FGD and online surveys. We’ve been invited to annual marketing events, internal training sessions and workshops to talk about online communities and practices in Taiwan, we knew they loved it because they invited us back to speak to other colleagues in the region as well.
Have you achieved any notable results and insights for clients' using the technology?
Teenagers are not very expressive when they are sitting in a room of strangers, but they are very expressive in online communities. We have helped clients uncover a lot of undiscovered insight for some of the very sensitive topics, such as personal hygiene, struggles in life, period pain etc. The other area has been finding the real/true behaviour in food and beverage consumption. A lot of times consumers were making these decisions without paying much attention, therefore the insights gathered are limited with traditional "recall" methodologies. However, online communities can help us gather the real consumption behaviour and trigger at the time it happens. This helped our clients to gain competitive advantage by knowing their consumer behaviour better.
What do you think are the most exciting new areas of research and how will technology support these areas?
We've helped clients to do what they couldn't do in the past, such as doing experiments with consumers (use the product for a few days and then live without the product for a few days), gamification and insight exploration online, live with them for a month (behind the screen of course), online communities have opened a lot of new and fresh qualitative research design opportunities.
Thinking of starting a research study or project?
