It starts with discovery. Whether it’s primary research with current or potential customers, investigation of toolset to meet your CRM needs, or insights from on-site usability analytics, using research to generate qualitative and quantitative data will help inform critical business decisions.

We start with a definition of the question that can be answered with the support of research and accompanying data. Once that has been defined, GRAYBOX can make a recommendation as to the king and depth of research that can be used to support making a decision. Are you trying to find a new CRM system to help your sales team? Investigation into how people are using your website? Evaluating the effectiveness of our marketing efforts?

Where possible, GRAYBOX employs qualitative research to add valuable insight and “color commentary” to the question we’re trying to answer. Whenever you have the opportunity to speak directly to people, it increases the understanding you’ll have on the issues at hand. Speaking with people can be laborious and sometimes messy when feelings and emotions are involved, but the end result is a more nuanced understanding that really can’t be be substituted with anything else.

Gathering quantitative data can add valuable weight in answering specific questions in which the greatest diversity of feedback is going to be key. A great example of this is on-site usability analysis. Getting individualized feedback is important, but is necessarily skewed to that individualized perspective. When we can aggregate usability patterns across hundreds or thousands of users interacting with your website, the impact of those results can play a role in the level of confidence we have in making site improvement decisions. We’ve essentially reduced variables.

The end deliverable in a research effort can take many forms, including long-form written documentation, tabulated and categorized quantitative customer feedback data, and summarized deck for your C-suite or ownership. It's about knowing the intended audience and delivering something that will be valuable for your team and ours.