Getting input for iterative •
product development
Treating customers as your •
staff
Gaining brand sustainability •
by engaging people both online
and offline and letting them see
their contribution
How:
One-on-one interaction to •
intercept user feedback from
listening
Develop a portal/place •
online, paired with real-life
incorporation of customers
Who’s using it: Get Satisfaction,
Zappos, Starbucks, and P&G

The Problem with Too
Much Data

While there are a number of firms analyzing the surface value of casual data, there is a need to dig deeper to understand context and higher-level implications. The more connected we become, the more connected our data becomes, and the more we need a structured approach for making sense of it.

Companies accessing loads
of customer data is not news.
However, this casual data is not
quantitative in nature. The emo-
tional meaning behind casual
data should not be analyzed sta-
tistically, and the methods used
to gain this data are as important
to understand as the data itself. If
customer voice is harvested only
through an existing medium (e.g.,
submitting a query for iPhone-
related tweets), the results you
get will be brief and will either
be of intense glee—“new iPhone
copy/paste function rocks!”—or
intense distaste—“Apple sucks!”—
leaving little room for under-
standing context of use, while
still providing good touch points
for product improvement. There
is the potential for casual data to
be more dangerous than helpful
if it’s not properly understood.

March + April 2010

Ok, So What’s Our Role?

The need to find long-term