What do Customers Want? An Interview with Eileen Scully

Marketers get frustrated when they offer products and services based on empirical data, only to get rejected in the marketplace or find themselves outfoxed by a competitor.
Eileen Scully, a former measurement analyst with Gartner, leans heavily on her quantitative skills when she approaches markets. But while she took her love of numbers with her to a position as a senior product development director for Gartner, she also trusts her instincts. We caught up with her the other day to talk about the elusive question: how can marketers combine their marketing hunches – with the hard facts - to offer products customers want?

Every company has customer data, but do they now know how to use it?
Hopefully by now just about every company with a web presence has user data they’ve been collecting and monitoring over time.  The challenge is using what you know about customers and markets to craft messages that resonate. What trends are you seeing that can guide not only your communications strategy, but your product development efforts?  What data are you using to anticipate market direction? And how are you using that data to get in front of the curve before your competitors? 

How can companies use what they know about their customers to craft better marketing communications?
The most simple, cost-efficient way to start is to analyze the customer data you  have against what you know about prospects you’re not reaching. But first, you need to validate what you know about your customers.  Show them that you do in fact know and care about who they are.  Share and validate your thoughts of why they need you – then use this to identify with your larger prospect database.  Hopefully this is happening behind the scenes to inform your communications.

"The most simple, cost-efficient way to start is to analyze the customer data you already have against what you know about the prospects you’re not reaching."

Most technology companies are quite sparing in their use of real market data in their marketing communications. Why do you think this is? 
The key here is defining “real market data.”  I’ve worked with a few marketers who know good data from bad data, who know how to synthesize myriad data sources into credible go-to-market strategies, but more often I’ve seen good data misused to support bad ideas. 

Often, companies just get paralyzed. They don’t know how to evaluate the quality of their data sources or how to interpret it. And they have trouble removing all the inherent prejudices from the data gathering stage. Politics often win out over good intentions.

How often do marketers let politics get in the way of what the customer really wants?
It happens more than we care to admit. Most of us are unconscious that we’re even doing it – and it’s something I guard against all the time.

Can you give us an example?
Sure. I am currently involved in a new startup company in the wine industry.  Personally, there are some wines I would never drink – and I hate the thought of them being part of the offering.  But the deeper I dive into the research regarding wine consumption rates, the more I realize that I am losing a potentially lucrative option by letting my personal preferences drive market strategy.  Managers need to balance their personal perceptions and tastes with the upside of higher sales.   

"Marketers have trouble removing all the inherent prejudices from the data gathering stage. Politics often win out over good intentions."

What's the biggest mistake executives make when interpreting data about their customers?
The fatal flaw with most executives is refusing to acknowledge evidence that speaks contrary to their strategy.  So often I see well-intentioned executives take one datapoint that supports their position, stop there, and call it market research. 

Can you share a personal experience?
I worked with a business unit experiencing disappointing sales for one of its flagship products, despite an extremely capable sales force armed with robust support. We conducted some primary research to determine what was going on.  Customers told us unequivocally that we needed to scale the product’s functionality back. 

As the market had matured, as all markets do, customers only required 10 percent of what we were currently offering.  The product manager’s response was, "It’s a great product, they just don’t know they need.”  The product remained unchanged, and also unsold.  Unfortunately, it's not an uncommon scenario.

"So often I see well-intentioned executives take one datapoint that supports their position, stop there, and call it market research." 

So what’s your advice to marketers that want to avoid this common fatal flaw?
Check your ego at the door when you scan markets. The best product development strategies align known patterns from existing customers with external research about the behavior of the larger market. Taken together, these two exercises result in new offerings, or enhanced existing offerings, that customers will buy.   

How can marketers respond when market data suddenly turns against them?  For example, how might a CRM vendor respond after a leading research company ... releases a study that shows CRM projects have not delivered?
First, understand your data source.  What’s the market impact from that one report from that one vendor?  If it’s potentially huge, and it might very well be, immediately circle the wagons and prepare a response for your front lines (sales teams and other client facing associates). 

If you feel the impact is there, but not hugely significant, you still need to arm your field with a response, but scale it properly.

If it goes against what you know to be true, from your own and third-party data sources, start gently pushing your compelling message into your communications.  It may not warrant an all out assault, however.

"Check your ego at the door when you scan markets."

Can you give an example of a situation where a company decided not to go on the defense and actually use the data to turn their strategy?
Look at how McDonalds responded to “Supersize Me.”  They could have invested millions sponsoring research to counter the claims made in the movie.  Instead, they acknowledged that it was time to recraft their menu, and now most of their advertising budget is spent promoting their “healthy choices.” 

I’m sure they would have preferred producing their low cost, highly processed menu, and there were likely more than a few dissenting opinions amongst the McDonalds executives and managers during that episode.  But they have – at least so far – maintained their leadership position in the fast food market, and are repositioning themselves. 

Do you think McDonald’s will impact the larger industry?
Their competitors are watching how this falls out. If MacDonald’s succeeds with their modified strategy, the whole industry will follow. All driven by their response to one man’s experiment, captured on film, for which they could never have been adequately prepared. 

If you claim to be the leading vendor, and evidence speaks otherwise, is there any real liability  -- or does one just potentially pay through a loss of credibility?   
Hey, anyone can claim anything they want, and there will be those who consume it.  You have to know the market … and you have to know yourself.  What do you stand for? Does your audience expect the same credibility from your marketing materials as they do from your product and service? 

Where are your values? Is it important to your organization to maintain high integrity across all of your communications – or do you abide by the proverbial "don’t confuse selling with delivery?"

If I read on a car manufacturers web site that a certain model is the safest, then go to NHTSA and see that another make and model is rated the top for safety, will I consider buying that car?  Will I trust anything about that company from that day forward?  Probably not.

"You have to know the market - and yourself.  What are your values? What do you stand for? Is it important you maintain high integrity across all of your communications – or do you abide by the proverbial "don’t confuse selling with delivery?"