Design Research & Customer Insight

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Know your customers better than anyone and put them at the centre of your growth and development so your products and services resonate.

Many businesses aspire to be innovative. It is the key variable in profitable growth and a must-have for those in very competitive arenas. A key place to start is by deeply understanding your customer.

Design research – if done well – drives growth by inherently understanding your customer’s latent needs and the human factors that matter to your customers - and why. Understanding their preferences and value drivers informs your decision-making and growth strategy, informing where to play now and how to win. This human-centred also approach helps cultivate your organisation to become more innovative, aligning all efforts right across the organisation around your customer.

/ Our Approach

Our product design company has spent more than two decades leading specialised design research. We work with local and international companies and clients who want to understand their future customers. Because every question and investigation is different, we conduct highly customised studies that dive into your customers’ context using creative, qualitative and quantitative approaches to get to ‘the why’ behind how people think and how they make decisions. Each study is carefully planned to deliver on the objectives and key results.

As product designers, we have conducted thousands of customer insight projects, meeting real people where they are and building empathy for their context. This work has added significant value to the teams and companies we have had the privilege to work with. This deep experience has also helped us develop a unique and very advanced set of research tools and methodologies, and a vast network.

/ Insight Capabilities

Customer Definition & Segmentation

Segmentation is a process we use to identify and connect with your real customers, and group specific and observable customer attributes, common features, motivations and behaviors. Effective segmentation allows you to be more customer-centric, and meet the different needs of our audience.

International Research & Market Entry Strategy

International connection helps our brand partners enter and scale in export markets. When entering new markets visibility towards who to connect with and how is vital. Our work in global markets helps provide a deep understanding of international cultures, local nuances, and key trade considerations.

Ethnographic Research & Quantitative Data

We use qualitative ethnographic research techniques that involve systematic studies of real people in their natural environment, to understand their latent needs and value drivers. We also use the power of quantitative data to uncover insights that lead to transformational change.

Insights into Growth Value & Future Foresight

Forming clear actionable recommendations from research that can drive growth is the core purpose. We distil research observations, data, and insights into crystalline action that your team can implement. Our work has created significant value for our clients across many markets and industries.

Testing Ideas & Product-Market Fit

People don't know what they want until you show it to them. We are very visual and we create a lot of research prototypes and territories to test. People give real honest feedback when they see, touch and feel it. Testing concepts and prototypes early and often with end users allow us to produce exceptional outcomes.

Cultivating an innovative culture

Research insight can unlock your team and transform your culture by bringing everyone together around a central purpose. In our work we have been asked by New Zealand Tade & Enterprise, Callaghan Innovation, and several leaders of high growth companies to help coach and transfer capabilities into their organisations to cultivate an innovative culture.