March 2021 ARVIC

The March 2021 Accelerant Research Virtual Insights Conference covered four distinct domains, but a single pressure ran through all of them: the gap between the insight that exists and the insight that actually reaches a decision. Speakers tackled that gap from different angles, whether by rethinking CX metrics, stress-testing research design against real-world disruption, bringing non-researchers into the field to build internal credibility, or using shopper research to rescue revenue being lost at the shelf and the checkout lane.

Rethinking CX Metrics and Delivery

One session made a direct challenge to how organizations currently define and measure customer experience. The argument was not that existing tools are wrong, but that they are being used too narrowly.

• CX research spans the full brand experience, from product development through consumption. Treating it as a survey or NPS dashboard leaves most of the insight value unrealized.
• NPS has real limitations, particularly in B2B contexts, and produces little actionable output unless paired with a follow-up 'why' question and fast text analytics.
• Customer Effort Score is emerging as a more decision-useful alternative because it focuses on removing friction, which is directly actionable for operations and service teams.
• Speed of delivery matters as much as the insight itself. Dashboards, video clips, and multimedia reporting have replaced long written reports, and executives now expect findings in 30 minutes or less.
• Journey mapping only works when every organizational silo has been brought in through in-depth interviews, transcript sharing, and a facilitated workshop before any agreement on priorities is sought.

Research Design Under Pressure

A substitute session delivered in real time modeled the kind of contingency thinking it was advocating. It paired honest lessons from research projects gone wrong with fresh findings from a 1,000-person consumer survey fielded that same week on how Americans were using their March 2021 stimulus payments.

• Media or behavioral database targets do not automatically translate into valid research targets. Researchers should push back when a proposed audience is too narrow.
• Segmentation algorithms applied rigidly to qualitative recruiting produce disappointing results. Pair typing tools with rich segment profiles and recruit for personality as well as segment membership.
• Survey fraud is a growing operational threat. Bot activity, professional survey takers, and organized coaching communities are actively working around quality controls, making obsessive data quality checks non-negotiable.
• On the stimulus findings: two thirds of respondents received their payment within roughly two weeks of passage, and nearly half of those had already spent at least 50 percent of it. Forty cents of every dollar went to bills, 25 cents to savings or investments, and 10 cents to shopping.

Building Internal Credibility Through Ethnographic Methods

Two practitioners, one from a consumer products manufacturer and one from an employee engagement firm, showed how qualitative and ethnographic methods create buy-in from stakeholders who would otherwise remain skeptical of research. Their experience adapting in-person fieldwork when COVID-19 made it impossible added a practical dimension that resonated across the conference.

• Bringing non-researchers into the field, with clear role assignments and written guidelines, converts skeptics into advocates and makes consumer research a shared tool rather than a gate on a project plan.
• When in-person access disappeared in 2020, assigning each team member three to four specific respondents to follow through an online bulletin board drove genuine engagement, far more than open shared-login access.
• Avoiding the word 'why,' tolerating silence, and letting interviewees correct their own inconsistencies consistently surfaces richer and more honest responses than direct questioning.
• Third-party interviewers remove the fear of consequence that prevents honest feedback in both consumer and employee research. Their presence also signals to employees that leadership is genuinely listening.
• Disengaged employees cost organizations an estimated 550 billion dollars annually in lost productivity. Research-backed listening practices are a concrete lever for reducing that cost.
• A two-person insights team can serve a large, multi-segment business by formalizing submission processes, partnering with agencies for most fieldwork, and building an internal opt-in panel.

Physical Retail: A Strategic Reset, Not a Retreat

The retail session pushed back on the narrative that physical stores are in decline, presenting shopper research and case studies to argue that stores are taking on a more strategic role, provided brands and retailers do the research required to understand what shoppers actually need in the aisle.

• Physical stores still account for nearly 90 percent of all purchases even during the pandemic, and major retailers were opening hundreds of new locations in 2021.
• Convenience and inspiration are not mutually exclusive. Stores that focus only on transactional fulfillment risk becoming vending machines. The winning model integrates self-checkout and e-commerce with in-store engagement.
• Brand and retailer partnerships at the category, department, and banner level are among the most effective levers for delivering shopper delight, with several major examples already in market.
• Fast-growth categories such as plant-based foods, organics, and CBDs are poorly merchandised today. Shopper-led research, not internal algorithms, should guide category organization, and getting it right can produce a 20 percent difference in sales.
• Retailer apps are a real opportunity for personalization and in-store navigation. Brands should secure a presence in retailer media ecosystems as a priority.
• Self-checkout has significantly eroded impulse purchasing. Redesigning the checkout zone with clear, simple merchandising can recover 30 to 70 percent of lost impulse sales, based on a pilot already expanding to more than 250 stores.