How many times have you seen quality research shot down because a decision-maker said it didn't match what they knew? And despite the reams of data and the quality of the analysis, the nay-sayer simply wouldn't budge.
Marketing and strategy professionals do their best to gather data through a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Despite these efforts, many are frustrated when decisions are made seemingly in spite of the data. And then they double down and do more research, or try a new technique, with the same result.
The problem is less in the in the information itself than in cognitive science. Merriam-Webster defines insight as 'the power or act of seeing into a situation." If you parse the words closely, you'll note that an insight can only be arrived at by an individual, not 'delivered' by someone else. So, while the marketer can see into the situation because s/he has lived, breathed and even slept with the data, the decision maker hasn't.
And because decision makers deal with inputs from many sources, they often rely on tried and true decision tools to interpret new information. While this works very well with data that confirms a belief, cognitive biases (and particularly confirmation bias) make it hard to absorb and act on data that seemingly contradicts a world view. As one of my mentors once said, "real change only occurs when mental models change."
So how do you change these mental models? First, rethink your whole approach. Start with the decision maker, not the customer!
Only when you understand how your decision makers arrive at insights can you design the approach that will best help them create their own insights.
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