Conducting Research in the Tech Industry

Research is a critical component to supporting innovation efforts within the technology industry. And with user and customer demands constantly shifting and more competitors entering the space, being innovative and agile is even more important. So, if you’re like most of our clients in this industry, finding the right tools to move fast can be the biggest challenge when it comes to soliciting user feedback, prioritizing products in the pipeline, and launching. However, we have a few use cases to share that highlight how it’s possible to gain actionable insights that keep you moving forward quickly. 

New Features? No Problem.

An enterprise hardware and SaaS brand wanted to understand how companies are selecting and managing SaaS based solutions. Specifically, this company had developed a new SaaS tool that had yet to be finalized and they needed to quickly understand what potential features would resonate with the needs of a SaaS-based organizational structure.

In this case, a feature prioritization methodology was the ideal solution to help this technology company select the most impactful features for development. However, this brand also wanted to learn more about why IT professionals in medium and large sized companies may like one feature over another in order to aid marketing communications. As a result, we ran a Concept Prioritizer™ alongside the Feature Prioritizer™ to provide additional context. They found

• Features that helped reduce the time to complete tasks were most likely to appeal to IT professionals
• Another feature related to the user accounts and management of the SaaS product was less impactful on IT professionals’ perceptions of this product
• Features that appealed to IT professionals’ desire to be early adopters for innovative technology resonated well

This unique research approach allowed this technology brand to understand which features were the most attractive and why. Without the combination of the feature prioritization and concept evaluation, this technology brand wouldn’t be able to select which features to move forward with and how to message them. Furthermore, the ability to run them concurrently meant timelines were met and they were able to proceed with development per their schedule.

Perfect Pricing

A software provider was looking to develop a new subscription offering that would include a combination of solutions and prices. They had developed four different options based on prior research, but needed to determine which one of the four options was the best value and the most relevant to their target consumers.

Since this software provider had already determined the right aspects to include in a subscription offering, we recommended a monadic Pricing Evaluator™ study to determine which of the 4 options resonated best among those looking to use this type of solution. Results showed

• When it came to the appeal and believability of the subscription options, one performed significantly better due to its middle-tier price and offerings
• Improvements for message clarity could be made on all four options, as there was still some confusion in understanding what product features they entailed

While a winning subscription option emerged, conducting a second phase of research allowed this software provider to also understand the last areas of improvement to be made on the offering. For example, they were able to make slight adjustments to the messaging in order to improve clarity and highlight the primary features before launching it.

Marketing Made Easy

A growing global information technology (IT) company was looking to increase its success in delivering core branding and messaging to Canadian and UK markets. The marketing team at this company had previously been sharing content created in the US, within the UK, and Canada in order to garner more awareness. However, as the company continues to expand they wanted to know how relevant existing content was in these countries and what they could do to improve global perceptions of their brand.

The marketing team was looking to assess the perceptions of current content and how they could better deliver on content compared to the US. So, GutCheck recommended a multi-country exploratory study that would allow an easier comparison of differences and insights between countries. The results would also enable their marketing team to focus on specific nuances between countries, in addition to looking at the big picture. Findings showed

• Perceptions of the brand were interpreted similarly in both the UK and Canada and aligned with the core branding, showing that current global brand communications are effective
• An opportunity to create targeted content by country
• Both countries also had variations in perceptions among age groups, showing a further understanding of content could be implemented at the generational level

The marketing team within this IT company was pleased to find out that global brand perceptions were aligned. This allowed them to immediately focus on generating specific content by country—where perceptions did differ. Additionally, the marketing team now knows they could further expand the impact of their global marketing strategy by conducting additional research to understand the difference in perceptions by generation in those countries.

Find out how partnering with us can help you successfully incorporate user insights throughout development in an agile and iterative way by downloading the eBook below. You’ll get to read more about how agile research can be leveraged in the tech industry.