Following an extensive brand segmentation, Cafédirect – a leading ethical coffee brand – sought to find a new and more appropriate way to engage its consumers and deliver streams of fresh insight. Their strategic objectives centred on
growing shopper numbers and increasing frequency of purchase among two key consumer segments. Cafédirect turned to Further for help in building a powerful online research community; a solution that required technical expertise and advanced technology, research rigour and an understanding of their consumer’s complex digital user-behaviours. Cafédirect now connects everyday with their
target consumers, garnering opinion, sharing concepts and building valuable relationships along the way
When Cafédirect approached Further, the insight team had just completed a rigorous segmentation study to better understand their consumer typologies.
Up until this point, they had relied on traditional project-oriented research and emailed surveys for insight. Although useful, a new research solution was identified as a requirement that was more cost-effective and capable of delivering research at speed.
Our brief was to find a new way of engaging Cafédirect consumers, as well as a select few non-consumers, to help:
Furthermore, our work involved developing a community strategy and research community platform that would support both qualitative and quantitative research methods and encourage conversations among consumers and staff at Cafédirect. The community needed to be private and invite only, since much of the information to be shared was of a confidential nature, and it had to be easy for consumers of ages and experience to get involved. Equally as important was the need to deliver a new digital brand experience that consumers would take delight in and even take part-ownership of.
We customised our best-in-class online research community platform, Together, providing features such as blogs and discussion forums, brainstorming exercises, surveys, live chat rooms and polls. The community, aptly named Cafédirectors’
Community, allowed members to create rich profiles and start their own discussions, as well as participate in a range of research exercises designed and posted by Cafédirectors’ Community Managers on a regular basis.
To ensure that participation was high and that the online conversations were rich and insightful, our team provided training to Cafédirect’s Community Managers and designed a recruitment strategy that identified initial membership drafts and the process of introducing them to the community. Rewards and incentives for participation are critical, so our team provided guidance and experience on how best to manage this exchange and the creation of motivational drivers.
It was vitally important that the we made it easy for the Cafédirectors’ Community Managers to share and disseminate the knowledge and insight they gleaned with the business stakeholders. Using our powerful Notepad solution, Community Managers could tag, annotate and disseminate insights at the press of a button, keeping stakeholders informed in a convenient and accessible way. Streams of actionable insight were kept alive for longer, with ongoing internal discussion supported by way of a digital insight channel using Further’s
‘UpStream’ curated content feature.
"The community has enabled us to ask our consumers a wider range
of questions which, perhaps, we wouldn’t have been able to before
because of time and budget restrictions. Ultimately, this has fostered
more of a research culture and consumer focus within our business."Lorraine Kelleher, Category & Consumer Insights Manager, Cafédirect