You might be wondering why this post has nothing to do with Latin American consumers. Well, in addition to my Latin American research, enterprise feedback management (EFM) is a new and exciting coverage area that I will be addressing to help market research (MR) professionals. My goal is to assist you in finding the right tools and processes that will aid you in making sense of all the copious amounts of information that is collected from all parts of your company regarding consumers and synthesize them into coherent, actionable solutions.

What is EFM? Right now it means several things. From the viewpoint of a customer experience (CXP) professional, it is a tool that can be used to assist in developing a systematic approach for incorporating the needs of one’s customers into the design of better customer experiences, or what we call at Forrester voice of the customer (VoC) programs. My colleague Andrew McInnes will be covering EFM, as well, but from the perspective of how CXP professionals can utilize these tools.

For a market research professional, it is also used as a tool, but is not specific to solely collecting customer experience feedback. I see it as an advantage in two main ways.

  • First, it can be used as a mechanism for the market research department to gain more visibility within an organization as the expert in how to collect and analyze data. Now the market research expertise can be focused in one central place within the company — the MR department — and then made available to everyone within the organization. As a result, the MR department is able to control the quality of how questions are asked, how sample is collected and which method of data collection is best, and what data is valid and can be used to develop actionable business solutions.
  • Second, it is a resourceful tool that can help the MR department synthesize data from multiple sources — whether it be from an online survey, an online community, or just listening data from social media sites — into one cohesive framework of understanding how to engage your target customer. As a result, EFM platforms can help you analyze the treasure trove of data at your disposal and pull out actionable insights and deliverables that that will resonate with the executive board and give the MR department a seat in the boardroom.

As I begin to explore this area, I would love to hear how you work with other departments within your company and help them with your market research expertise. How do you currently work with data from multiple sources? How do you synthesize the information into a cohesive solution that you can bring to your company’s executives? Which vendors or tools do you currently work with that help you manage your data?

I would love to chat with you about this! Feel free to contact me via this post, Twitter, or my email.