In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Daniel Enson, VP of Research Solutions at Toluna Corporate. They discuss Daniel’s aha! journey; how data can be turned into an interesting, coherent story; the huge impact that agile research has had on the world; and the key to what a successful research team looks like. They also delve into the number one mistake that researchers always make!

With over fifteen years of experience to draw on, he’s the man to go to for all phases of research, including study design, sample planning, advanced data analysis, and actionable storytelling. He’s the VP of Research Solutions at Toluna Corporate, an organization delivering real-time consumer insights at the speed of the on-demand economy, and has been there for over nine years, starting out as a Research Director.

One of his previous colleagues described him as “an effective and talented boss and teammate. Regardless of what else is going on, he's always there to support and mentor those that work with him and for him”.

Tune in to this week’s episode of Getting to Aha! to find out more!

👉One of the key aspects of market research and consumer insights is being able to think on your feet and question your own assumptions. Just because your campaign or marketing idea didn’t do super well at the beginning, it doesn’t mean it’s a failure or that it’s bad; it may just require a little tweaking.

👉Daniel’s favorite part of research is storytelling; it means you can present something to clients in a way that all the data makes sense. To do this, you need to make a good, well-thought-out questionnaire and choose the right methodology. It’s all about weaving the data into a coherent, interesting story. It’s no easy task, but when it all comes together, it can feel extremely satisfying.

👉With the help of agile research (a research method where feedback is collected quickly and continuously), researching data has been made much easier. But, as Daniel points out, it wasn’t always this way. When he started out in the industry fifteen years ago, there weren’t any companies out there using the agile methodology; the research took much longer and wasn’t necessarily always accurate. Viewing the data in real-time is far more helpful, also meaning it’s more valid and legitimate.

👉Before you shift towards agile research, there are two things you should keep in mind: know who your target audience is, and don’t try to fit every single thing into one template. Without these two pillars, your campaign will surely collapse. It’s incredibly important to make sure you’re keeping track of everything in a clean and accessible way.

👉Oftentimes, there are far too many questions in a survey or questionnaire, which can result in way much data, which isn’t useful at all! Daniel says that something you can do to stop this from happening is to make a quick sample poll just to figure out what the people want. This way, your questions will be more streamlined and straightforward, filtering out the futile ones.

👉For a successful research team, diversity is key. You need to make sure you have people from traditional market research jobs, science, psychology, writing, and analytics, as well as people with different strengths and interests who want to learn more about research. But most importantly, they need to be able to work as part of a team.

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