Getting to Aha!: Darshan Mehta of iResearch on how you can gain insights so you can get your business noticed
By Jim James, Founder EASTWEST PR and Host of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur.
Darshan Mehta is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of iResearch, and the author behind the book called “Getting to Aha!” He believes that today’s insights are tomorrow’s facts. And in the new episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, he talked about how he helps entrepreneurs gain insights for them to get noticed.
Image from LinkedIn
Gaining Valuable Insights
If you look at the world around you, you’ll realise that the things that have become part of your life were, at one point, an insight that someone came up with.
Smartphones are a perfect example of this. It wasn’t that long ago when we didn’t have this gadget and weren’t able to do the things that we’re doing with it now. Since the first portable phones, they have continually evolved. And it was a result of an insight that was developed.
If you think about it, such insights are the real key to differentiating, innovating, and ultimately, building loyalty.
However, one of the challenges that entrepreneurs face is being quite product-focused. They think that they’ve got an insight into what the market wants and yet, most of them fail because they develop something that people don't really want to buy.
This is where iResearch comes in.
Screengrab from iResearch
A lot of times, people see research as an ivory tower and an expensive endeavour. Nonetheless, if you ponder on it, research is essentially structured curiosity. What you’d want to do is probe into the mind of the consumer and find out what they think, feel, and what their triggers are.
When the iPod first came out, there were plenty of MP3 players in the market. But Steve Jobs was in a position to see that the price of hard drives was coming down — to the point that you could contain a lot of content on there and to the point that it could actually fit in your pocket.
Being a big music fan, he might have shared frustration that a lot of other people had: They had to take their CDs and their entire music album with them when going out. Knowing the technology that could solve that helped him address that issue.
Apple actually does a lot of research. But they don't necessarily do a focus group to find out what people think is the solution. It's often about finding out what their pain points are. It's really up to you, as the person who knows your industry and the products, to come up with a solution.
Sometimes, research gets a bad rap because customers aren’t necessarily explicitly telling you to build a better product. What they truly tell you are their problems. And that’s where you can come in with insights from your industry or your product knowledge and say, I think I can solve that pain point.
How iResearch Helps
There are two methodologies when it comes to research: quantitative and qualitative.
Many of us are already familiar with the different tools available to conduct online surveys. Over the past years, the cost for those has tremendously come down. However, there’s still work to do because a good survey comes with good questions.
More than anything, having more conversations is required before you learn to have better questions.
Image from Unsplash
Based on Darshan’s experience working with clients, he found that most people want to get at the “why.” And they think that surveys are the way to go — whether it’s because they’re familiar with it or it’s more affordable. But they often get frustrated with their research because they still can't achieve their purpose.
To get at the “why,” what you need is conversations with your customers. It can be as simple as just having one-on-one conversations with customers or actually doing focus groups to tap into those insights.
iResearch has introduced a platform so you can do all of these on a regular basis — anytime, anywhere, and in a less expensive manner. In fact, the cost per session is only tantamount to having a nice lunch for two people.
But whether you’re doing focus groups or one-on-one conversations first, you’ll end up with better surveys because your questions and your answer choices will be more relevant. And this will allow you to get more useful data on the back end.
Oftentimes, people get into a survey but they don't know how they're going to use the data from that. They usually end up with lots of questions that would be nice to know, but in the end, are not very helpful to get to their ultimate goal or objective.
When you create better surveys, you can get at exactly what it is you're trying to achieve.
Insightful Online Conversations
When you use iResearch, it’s more about having an online conversation with around 10 to 15 customers. Unlike surveys, you don’t need a random sample.
If anything, Darshan would argue to have a more homogeneous sample for the focus group. The reason? It’s because your goal is to actually do a deep dive in people who have similar backgrounds, interests, and even purchase behavior so you can find out what motivates and triggers them to act or not act.
Once you get those insights and gain a deeper understanding, now, you have a better foundation upon which to build the survey questions and the answer towards those.
Screengrab from iResearch
A true focus group really involves managing three different roles: the moderator, the participants, and the clients. iResearch’s facility allows you to have direct conversations between the moderator and the client during the session.
In the real world, focus groups are done with clients behind a mirror. If you want to pass notes or give feedback, you have to send somebody around and interrupt the session. Whereas online, you can do that very easily and quickly.
Additionally, iResearch has a set of tools that makes it easy for the moderator to show images and videos.
On Being Chat-Based and Catering to Global Audiences
Darshan started doing online focus groups back in 1998. At the time, he wasn’t sure if that activity was something that can be done online. So he tried every method — from telephone to video. He found that chat-based focus groups are what he really appreciates.
Imagine having 10 to 15 people. When you post a question, there’s always someone who's going to be more talkative or more willing to come out with an opinion out of the gate faster. Often, you don’t hear from other people as much.
If you do a chat-based discussion, you can hear from everybody and they can also have the time to react to what others are saying. He also found an interesting dynamic: When people have to answer questions in writing, there's an extra step of thinking and articulating that comes through.
As a result, you’ll have a much richer transcript and much deeper insights in the end.
At iResearch, you can also do a group session in any language, but you would need to have a native-speaking moderator who can do that. If you are in the US and you wanted to do research in China and you speak Chinese, you can do a focus group from the US in Chinese with an audience in China.
Doing that online can help save you expenses as well because you don’t have to fly to another country.
A lot of the costs related to this type of research go into structural costs — logistics, videotaping, transcription, and all these things that aren’t related directly to research but are necessary. When you go online, you eliminate these expenses, making the whole process much more affordable.
Keep in mind that focus groups and surveys complement each other. These will help you get to a better product-market fit sooner, faster, and more affordably. This cost-effectiveness will further help you keep doing these methodologies and conversations so you continue to differentiate and innovate.
Screengrab from iResearch
When it comes to bringing your audience to the iResearch platform, it’s you who have to do the recruiting. They don’t offer that because they understand that there are many different audiences that people are looking for. And it will be hard to offer all that, especially on a platform that can be used internationally.
The good news is that there are companies out there that will get you a sample. There are survey tools out there that can also get you samples. You can also use social media to build a list or compile users of your product or similar products efficiently.
Getting to Aha!
Darshan has written a book titled “Getting to Aha!”
The premise for this is that he’s been doing market research in brand advertising work for quite some time now. And he realised that a lot of times, clients weren't having enough conversations with their customers. In reality, there are many insights lying all around us.
If you're able to have conversations, you can tap into tremendous insights that, in turn, will help you be more innovative.
Remember that nowadays, you're no longer competing with the person next to you, down the street, or in the next state. You're often competing with someone around the world. For him, gaining insights is what you can use to differentiate yourself from competitors.
The question is: How do you gain those insights?
That’s where those conversations really come into play. The more conversations you have, the more you’ll be able to better understand at a deeper level what your customers want or don't want.
Image from Amazon
“Getting to Aha!” helps people understand how they can get those conversations.
And what he did with the book, really, is to have a conversation with the reader as well. He made it conversational and gave lots of examples of how companies have succeeded and failed by having these conversations and getting these insights.
Innovating Experiences
If you think about it, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we’re all looking for ways to make a difference and to stand out because there's lots of competition. The good news is that there are many ways to stand out. Today, it's not just having an innovative product. Sometimes, it can be about the experience.
For instance, in his book, Darshan talked about shavers for men.
Gillette has been the market leader for many years in the shaving business. Their innovation was to provide a shaver with one blade to a shaver with two to five blades. However, in doing that, they failed to realise that as the number of blades increased, the cost of those cartridges also increased.
Also, when buyers go to stores to get razors, they’d find that the products are behind locked cabinets. They needed to get help from a clerk to get it, and that took away from the experience.
Then, there came an upstart that basically changed the experience. They learned to innovate and were able to take away market share. This shows how people now are no longer just buying products; they’re buying experiences.
Image from Unsplash
Having conversations can help create better experiences.
For example, there was a children’s retail clothing that was looking for ways to improve their sales. During a focus group, they realised that a lot of the women who came to shop from them had this morning routine: They’d drop off their kids and go to a nearby bagel shop before going to their store because they didn’t open until 10 in the morning. The women shared that they didn’t want to wait for another 45 minutes.
As a result of the focus group, they started opening at 9:30. Within a week, they increased their sales, and the increment was more than enough to pay for all the research and more.
By having even a simple conversation with your customers, you can identify their pain points. You will know what their lifestyle is, what is it that they do, and what could be done to make things a little bit easier for them.
Airbnb is another example of a business that has listened to customers.
When they first started out, they were not having much success. They began in Texas and they’ve gone to California but it was in New York where they started seeing some traction. When they were told to not simply sit in a conference room trying to figure out why is that happening — that they should go to New York and talk to their customers — they followed it.
One of the things they learned during their first series of conversations is that a lot of these people didn't know how to take good pictures of their properties and their homes. Airbnb then helped them take better pictures with better lighting. Within a week, their sales doubled.
Entrepreneurs, as stated, are mostly product-focused. But doing just a little tweak or gaining a better understanding can already make a difference.
On Authenticity
There are many available tools in the digital world to get yourself noticed. But for Darshan, it’s ultimately about how you approach doing it.
If you only have a mindset that you're out there to sell something, it's going to be much harder to get noticed given today’s world. You won’t get noticed like how people who are really trying to help are getting noticed.
On the other hand, if you’re out there trying to help, then you’re going to find people who truly want your help and are willing to pay for it.
When they realise that you’re indeed helpful to them, it could prompt them to recommend you to others as well. This is what the internet and the digital world are really all about — connecting people.
Image from Unsplash
Keep in mind that what people are looking for, more than anything, is someone who authentically wants to help.
Everyone knows that we live in a world where you need to survive and make money. But if you have an authentic approach and your goal is to help, then that makes this other component much easier to facilitate or talk about.
Building a Brand Whilst Learning
Darshan has taught at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the Thammasat University in Thailand, the Sciences Po in France, and the Franklin University Switzerland.
Beyond being a unique way to build a brand around himself, he sees these stints as an opportunity to learn a lot. When you work with young minds, you get exposed to different things.
During these experiences, he learned that it’s one thing to be a student; it’s a whole new thing when you have to teach somebody else. You get a much more three-dimensional perspective around things, and Darshan finds it enriching and valuable. It also helped him grow on a personal level.
He was able to get all these exposures through contacts, referrals, and by talking to and working with people in the academic sphere. It’s about making connections.
Currently, he’s in Thailand to work with a university to develop a more robust ecosystem for startups. Today, startups around the world are facing the same challenges: They need to get to product-market fit; they need to get funding and traction so they can get to a point where they can scale their business.
To get in touch with Darshan, visit iResearch or email him at dm@iresearch.com.
This article is based on a transcript from my podcast The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, you can listen here.
Cover image by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash
