How the New Remote Workforce Can Benefit your Customer Research Efforts

A Large Portion of Employees Went Remote in 2020

The year 2020 saw a huge spike in remote work following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March. An estimated 42% of the US labor force switched to working from home full-time as the pandemic surged. A predicted 16% of employees, if not more, will continue working remotely long after the pandemic is behind us.

What is Customer Research?

Customer research is all about seeing into the minds of your customers throughout every stage of their journey with your organization. Three of the programs most commonly conducted are: Customer Experience, Win/Loss Analysis, and Churn Analysis.

The Traditional Challenges of Customer Research

The industry standard for conversion rates hangs just around 30% — out of every hundred contacts you attempt to engage, only about 30 will participate. Whether customers are in meetings all day, traveling for work, commuting, or just busy with daily duties, it can be hard to catch them for a moment of discussion.

How a Remote Workforce Makes It Easier to Conduct Research

Remote work means people are "at work" for more hours than when working traditionally. Working from home guarantees people are almost always in reach of their phone or computer. People are also traveling less for work and therefore "in the office" more. A recent Upwork survey found that Americans working from home were saving just under 50 extra minutes each day that would normally be dedicated to commuting.

At Spailey Solutions, conversion rates went up to nearly twice the industry average during 2020. Now is an excellent time to dive into your customers' experiences.

How to Get Started with Customer Research

Examine Your Current Challenges

Think about where knowing your customers' thoughts would be most impactful. Maybe you're most interested in knowing your customer's overall perception of your brand. Maybe you're losing customers but unsure why.

Is It Better to Use a Third-Party Research Firm?

When diving headfirst into a customer research project, you may find it helpful to hire a third-party firm. The benefits are many: from objectivity to confidentiality to expertise. Many firms turn to automated outreach to save time — hiring a firm that will conduct personalized outreach guarantees flexibility and humanizes your research efforts.