SfCI: five steps to a winning product

Program

SfCI stands for "Straight from Customer Insights." In other words: direct input from the consumer. CQM has developed a workshop-based program in which we work with you to gather, structure, and analyze this essential information and link it to concrete actions to boost your product's rating. This can immediately help improve the perception of your existing product (for example, through better service or marketing) while also providing objective insights for product improvements or the development of new products. The program generally spans ten weeks, though it can take longer. However, the five steps comprising the program are fixed. Following a kick-off, each step concludes with a workshop where we review the results together and determine the next steps. Ultimately, the program yields three or more "actionable insights": concrete actions you can implement to increase the product's rating.

Steps

The first phase of the five-step plan involves establishing the starting points. We decide which products to include potentially including competitors' products and identify the "drivers": the topics that influence the star rating. In step 2, we collect all relevant text data from the internet, email correspondence, and complaint databases. This involves analyzing open, unstructured text often referred to as "verbatim" data. This step is automated, including any necessary translations. In step 3, algorithms and models extract the key topics from the text and link them to the drivers. Sentiment analysis is also applied to the text. Step 4 links the drivers to the star ratings, identifying which drivers have the greatest potential to boost the overall star rating. The final step, step 5 yields the true insight: predicting what happens when specific aspects of the product (or factors surrounding it) are improved, particularly in relation to competing products. This ultimately leads to three or more actionable insights.

Winning

CQM has already carried out the new SfCI program with several clients. "In every instance, this has yielded concrete insights that the client can genuinely act upon," says Peter Stehouwer, Senior Data Scientist at CQM and the program's initiator. "Standard tools describe what is being discussed but fail to establish the link to the star rating. For example, consumers might talk extensively about topics A and B, even though only A actually has a significant impact on the star rating. With SfCI, we work with the client to delve much deeper into the 'how' and 'why' and we do so in a quantified, and therefore objective, manner. In today’s open yet fiercely competitive economy characterized by vocal customers and a multitude of communication channels—this is the key to creating a winning product."