At the January 2009 ARF Industry Leader Forum, Kim Dedeker challenged our industry to bring back the human element in market research. She argued that listening—genuinely hearing and heeding consumer voices—is no longer a core competency and that we have come to over-rely on metrics, measurement, and evaluation. This approach is hurting market research in a number of ways. Our focus on measuring diverts our understanding away from the human experience that underlies our statistics; and as a result we are not getting the kinds of insights needed to produce actionable results, bottom or top line. In today’s world, staying relevant is the key to competitive advantage. Yet, one-sided efforts to reach consumers—direct mail, telephone calls, email spam—turn off rather than engage people. Moreover, consumer skepticism (coupled with the power to screen or block unwanted messages) has prompted people to reject our attempts. This rejection is evident in the falling participation rates that have frustrated market research for years.  

These factors have coincided with the blossoming of the Internet and social media. The social Web, which offers limitless opportunity for connection and where uncountable numbers of people hang out every day, seems like a natural place to involve consumers in research—on their time and on their terms. And marketers have more means at their disposal than ever to engage people and listen: with the ability to create virtual gathering places, collaborate, trade advice, and upload/download content of all kinds, consumers are actively sharing their experiences with one another. But conducting research online in a way that truly engages consumers is not yet a mainstream practice. For the most part, market researchers have merely translated the familiar quantitative, survey-based approach (where people are viewed as “respondents”) to online formats. Researchers formulate questions and require people to convey their experience on a scale from one to ten. From the consumer’s perspective, filling out surveys and constraining one’s voice so that it fits within the researcher’s framework does not make a person feel heard. Nor is there much that is engaging, fun, or collaborative about it. In order to engage consumers so they will share their experiences with us, we need to shift to a more human—and essentially qualitative—approach to research. We need to listen. While this seems like a straightforward goal, really listening—and taking meaningful action on what one hears—is actually hard to do well. Listening requires a systematic and trustworthy method, a strategy for action (to deliver actionable insights across the organization), and a plan that makes the most of consumer insight and market research budgets. In this paper we share how Meredith Corporation, with the help of Communispace, has been able to do just that by sponsoring a branded, private online community of women consumers: Real Women Talking. The paper begins with an overview of Meredith’s community and how it has allowed them to get closer to women through listening. Following this, two types of examples are shared: the first is an editorial example which focuses on how the community helped redesign Ladies’ Home Journal, the second type of example describes how the community helped Meredith reach and build relationships with advertisers. The paper concludes with a summary of what worked for Meredith with a mind toward helping others hardwire listening throughout their organizations.