Modern Consumer Insights is Product Management

Tiffany Ng, Head of Consumer Insights at Experian, discusses how to assemble a consumer insights team that can support a variety of research methodologies, and the ways organizations can relentlessly focus on the consumer.

At Experian, an information services company, Tiffany Ng leads a team that delivers customer and market insights across the consumer services division.

From exploratory research and focus groups to online member communities and annual customer panels, Tiffany’s team uses a range of methodologies to conduct research and gather consumer insights, one of the main reasons Experian has built such a customer-centric organization over the years.

“This was not an easy task,” says Tiffany. “Until businesses really see tangible financial results, it’s difficult to change mindsets and priorities of a really mature business like ours. But it's an uphill battle that my team has been really happy to take on. We each have a passion for helping consumers, which is why we're here in the first place and so does Experian.”

These days, as the demand for insights grows and as non-research teams gain rapid access to consumer data through new tools and tech, the success of a consumer insights program is as much about using multiple research methodologies as it is about getting organizational buy-in, shifting mindsets, and building the right team.

The expertise of Experian’s insights team cannot be overstated -- and hasn’t been underutilized. In addition to conducting research, Tiffany’s team diligently maintains a center of research excellence and is focused on enacting org-wide best practices and research governance protocols.

“At the start, we were really small. We’re still really small. Just four years ago, I was a team of one. I really made sure to be smart about [hiring] and about who I brought on and really leverage any resource to its capacity. I built a really strong team. Each one of my team members are really valuable and highly qualified and highly respected throughout the organization and their fields. And I look for suppliers who are really agile and smart. They really need to grow with our business,” says Tiffany. “Our teams want more and more access to customers. It’s really important for us to maintain a center of excellence so that as we become a more customer-centric organization, we're doing it in a smart way.”

In this episode, you’ll learn a lot about customer insights, qualitative research, and building impactful teams.

Here are the highlights: 

• How the consumer insights team has helped Experian become more customer-centric (2:31)
• Tiffany’s strategies for building an impactful team (5:55)
• Ways to leverage an online community for qualitative research and customer insights (11:17)
• How to put the proper research guardrails in place as demands for insights grow (15:59)