How to Communicate Market Research Findings that Inspire Action

Why Communicating Market Research Findings Well Matters

You’ve done great research, uncovered meaningful insights but now comes the hardest part: communicating what it means for the business in a way that’s clear, memorable and actionable.

When you communicate market research findings clearly, your insights influence business decisions instead of getting lost in the noise.  Poor communication can bury great insights.  And if your stakeholders don’t get great insights, then that can negatively impact the ROI for the research and sour them on investing in more research in the future.

On the positive side, clear storytelling ensures your findings influence decisions.  Keeping these 3 principles in mind will help you get there:

1. Know your audience

2. Craft the story before making the slides

3. Share only what is important

4. Keep it simple

Know Your Audience Before You Communicate Market Research Findings

Sharing research data should always start with your audience in mind.  Defining that first will help you determine the best way to share research data.

Make sure you know who they are and what they’re looking for from you.  What decisions are they making that your insights can inform?  Then tailor your story and level of detail accordingly.

For instance, if it’s executive leadership, they need to know the “so what” and may only have 10 minutes for you to get them there.  Cross functional team members, on the other hand, may need to better understand the “why” and “how,” in which case they need more details.  In that case, it might be 30 or 40 SIMPLE pages that you present in an hour. 

Here are a few simple questions that can guide you:

• What do they already know

• What do they need to know to take action

• How much time will they give you

Craft the story before the slides

When reviewing and analyzing data, start broad and note interesting insights and findings along the way.  Write them on a piece of paper as you move through the data.  As you jot these points down, a story will start to emerge.

Once you have a basic story, then you can create a clear narrative following a basic story arc:

• The business question or challenge

• What you learned – the key insights

• What does it mean for the business – business implications

• What should happen next - recommendations

Simplify How You Communicate Market Research Findings with Headlines

Simplifying the message will make it easy for your audience to grasp the key points quickly.  Let’s start with the headline.

Each slide or paragraph should have the “so what” in the headline, so your audience knows how to think about it and, more importantly, what the implication is to the business.  It also acts as a point in the overall story that you’re telling with the presentation, so if it’s not building on that story, then it’s probably the wrong headline and/or data on the slide.

Headlines are especially important if you’re not actually presenting the research live but sending it out for people to read themselves.  For someone who may not have a lot of time, being able to just flip through the headlines to understand what the key takeaways are is golden.

When creating a headline ask yourself, what are you most trying to say?  What is the ONE thing you want people to take away from this slide?  And say it out loud – it helps to hear how it will sound when talking to an audience.  You should always have a good headline with the “so what” from the data. 

Here is an example of two headlines for the same data:

1. Purchase Preference

2. Move forward with the design change – it will positively impact sales

#2 has a lot more impact!

Lastly, use plain, everyday language and avoid jargon or research-speak.  Keep it simple and to the point.

Simplify the Data to Better Communicate Market Research Findings

Once you’re satisfied with the headline, only show data that supports the headline.  Replace cluttered charts with clear visuals and concise text.  There should be nothing on the slide that doesn’t support your headline.

Each slide should only have one major point.  And the data on that slide should only be in service to that point – no more. 

The amount of data you show will depend on your point.  You may have many data points on a graph, but if it shows a trend line and that’s your point, then put it on there.  Or sometimes only 1 number is enough.  Don’t be afraid to keep it simple – sometimes that can make more of an impact.

But don’t put 5 different graphs on one slide that may have nothing to do with your point, just to cram in as much data as possible.  If your audience is into more of the details, then use a spreadsheet.  The point is, you don’t want your audience to work hard to understand what you’re trying to say. 

Choose the Right Format to Communicate Market Research Findings

Decide how best to share your story based on audience and objective.  In many cases, PowerPoint may be better, but in many others you may want to get creative with how you present information.  Think about what kind of information you want to share and to whom.  Then think about how best to share it.

There are many types of presentation software beyond PowerPoint like Canva.  But often a simple word document will do the trick or perhaps your presentation can mostly be verbal or a combination of just a few slides and mostly verbal.  It all depends on the audience and what story you’re trying to tell.

Just make sure to match the format to the decision-making moment.  Don’t overproduce for a short meeting.

Don’t forget the visuals – Use them strategically When You Communicate Market Research Findings

One of the best ways to make a presentation more memorable is to include a lot of visuals – they help your audience remember your point.

According to John Medina in his book Brain Rules being able to

remember the point goes from 10% to 65% when you add visuals.

Those visuals should be relevant to the point you’re trying to make - random pictures in and of themselves won’t help with retention.  But a good visual can really bring to life your point or big idea.  Just remember not to get so visual heavy that your point and the data are lost.

Here are some tips as you add visuals:

• Break up text, so it’s easy to follow

• Use simple charts and infographics to highlight key points

• Limit colors and fonts for consistency

• Use icons or photos to humanize the story (e.g., consumer quotes with faces)

End with Impact

There is a big reason that many market research presentations fail.  They leave their audiences without a clue about what it means to their business.

The end of the presentation can be the most important piece.  Think of this as your elevator speech – if your audience can only read this page or section, what do you want them to know.

These items should always be included in any presentation:

1. Key findings or takeaways – this can be upfront, but if it’s a long presentation, it should also be restated at the end.

2. Call to action – what should the team/business do next?  What are the recommendations.  If this is not included, it may leave the team to wonder why the research was done to begin with if there is no resulting action.  To help you find that call to action, ask yourself “now what?”  The answer becomes the call to action.

3. Next steps – who will own what and by when.  You can also suggest follow-up research areas to explore next if warranted.

Summary of How You Communicate Market Research Findings

Spending the time getting the communication right can pay huge dividends.  By following these principles you can use research to influence business decisions.

1. Know your audience

2. Create a story before creating slides

3. Simplify headlines

4. Simplify the data

5. Determine the right format to share

6. Use visuals

7. Include a call to action