What is an "Insight"? It is a realization or discovery by the "business operator" #08

When discussing qualitative research analysis, the term "insight" often comes up. It is a word frequently used in phrases like "I want to capture insights from the interview."
This term is quite ambiguous, and its meaning and definition vary depending on the person or organization. Therefore, I will start by defining how I use the word "insight" in this article.

Broad and narrow meanings of "insight"

The meaning of insight differs slightly between its broad and narrow senses. The definition that resonates with me is as follows:
Broad insight: A realization that aids in marketing decision-making
Narrow insight: A discovery that changes the direction of a value proposition

Marketing research is fundamentally conducted by the entity responsible for marketing activities (often a business operator) to make marketing decisions. Therefore, in the context of marketing research, an "insight" refers to something the decision-maker (the business operator) realizes or discovers that "might provide a clue to solving a marketing problem." This is the broad definition of insight. In terms of meaning, I think it is close to "findings."

On the other hand, there are cases where the word "insight" is used exclusively for insights that lead to the development of new products/services or the creation of new markets. This is the narrow definition of insight.
Based on insights, business operators create new products, services, or advertisements. When these are presented to consumers, they realize, "That's right, this is what I wanted to do!" or "This is what I was looking for!" Then, they take action or change their behavior, such as making a purchase or switching from a competitor's product. Because of this, one can also find the definition: "a realization that brings about a change in consumer consciousness or behavior."
However, since it changes consumer consciousness or behavior, the business operator must provide a new value that is different from what they have provided before. Also, since creating a new market is not easy, I think that "realization" is significant enough to be called a "discovery." That is why I felt the definition "a discovery that changes the direction of a value proposition" was fitting.

Therefore, in this article, I will use the word "insight" with the meanings described above for both the broad and narrow senses.

An insight cannot be taken as a "statement," nor is it an "idea"

When a client says, "I want to capture insights from the interview," they sometimes expect the subject's "statements" to be the insights themselves, or they expect ideas that lead directly to measures to be provided through those statements.

However, consumers never tell you insights as statements in an interview*. The reason is simple: an insight is a "realization or discovery by the business operator." The consumer themselves does not speak about their needs or consciousness in a "form meaningful to the business operator." Naturally, they do not provide "ideas" either.
Insights are obtained through analysis. One example is the conflicts or needs behind the subject's behavior that we uncovered using the "causal-conflict analysis" and "higher-lower relationship analysis" introduced in previous articles.
*In an interview setting, there are times when, as a result of "probing" a certain statement, you can elicit a statement that leads directly to an insight. I plan to write about this in an article on probing.

Realizations and discoveries are hidden in conflicts

I will explain this using the island example I used in the causal-conflict analysis explained in the 5th article.
The example I used there was a very small island—a slice of that person's eating habits, preferences, and part of their beauty consciousness—but in actual analysis, it sometimes connects with other islands to form a larger island. You may find unexpected connections where you think, "Wait? It connects here?"

Also, the example I used represented a "conflict," and within conflicts, there are "negatives (dissatisfaction, inconvenience, shortage, burden, etc.)." Negatives require new solutions. Therefore,focusing on conflicts can help you find hints for new product and market development*.That is what I mean when I say, "realizations and discoveries are hidden in islands of cause and conflict."
*Insights are also hidden in "signs of change" and "discomfort," in addition to "conflicts." I recommend focusing on those when attempting to extract insights.

Higher-level needs become insights for communication

In the 6th article, I explained higher-lower relationship analysis, but the case of Person A that I covered there was actually an interview aimed at verifying communication for a certain beverage.
This beverage was running advertisements featuring athletes who stoically trained and achieved results. The interview was to confirm whether that direction resonated with loyal users like Person A.
As a result, it was confirmed that the direction of the communication matched Person A's "Be-need" of "wanting to have self-affirmation (confidence)." The sight of athletes working hard and stoically achieving results resonated with Person A's own way of life and values.
In other words, it can be said thatthe higher-level need extracted from the interview (wanting to gain self-affirmation) served as a realization for the business operator—an insight (narrow sense)—that "the current advertising route can maintain user loyalty."

Insights are determined by humans

Here, a little bit about AI. As long as an insight is a "realization or discovery by the business operator," AI will never judge, "This is an insight." Of course, if you instruct it, it will provide as many insight-like analyses—things that can be said from facts—as you want. However, from among those,it is the human on the decision-making side who selects the "This is it!" insight.I think this will not change even in an era where AI performs analysis.

Next time: From "insight" to "idea"

Earlier, I wrote that an insight is not an idea. An insight is something that exists "before" an idea. Once you have captured an insight through analysis, you need one more step where the business operator thinks about "how to connect it to our company's category, brand, product, or service." This is not analysis, but a task closer to creation.
In the next article, I will write about this "connecting task." We will look at concrete examples of how insights change into ideas for new products and measures.

The talk about insights has become quite long. Finally, let's summarize.

• An insight is a realization or discovery by the "business operator." In a broad sense, it is a "realization that aids in marketing decision-making," and in a narrow sense, it is a "discovery that changes the direction of a value proposition."

• Insights are not obtained directly from the subject's statements, but are derived through analysis.

• An insight is something that exists before an idea. Through a "creative" step of connecting the insight to your company's category, brand, product, or service, you sublimate it into an idea.