Context. Clarity. Conviction. Consider these your driving factors for presenting Insights that shape strategic business decisions. Eliana Wahnon (General Mills, VP of Consumer & Market Insights) recently joined The SIVO Insights Forum to share her expertise.
Let’s dive deeper into the framework Eliana uses:
https://youtu.be/Yv8JdvFvILY
Tune into a lively on-demand conversation “Bridging The Gap: Translating Insights Into Meaningful Business Results" to hear from Eliana and other Insights experts including Khary Campbell (Comcast, VP of Consumer Research & Insights) and Elizabeth Oates (Book Author, and former Ulta Beauty VP of Consumer Insights.)
Learn from Insights leaders as they discuss:
Special shout out to Natasha Weith, VP of Research at SIVO Inc. for hosting The SIVO Insights Forum!
by Jennifer Dilley
What is a consumer insight? How do you know when you have found one? What does it look like?
These are questions that every marketer or consumer insights professional gets asked at some point. And while it might be useful to rattle off a definition in an elevator conversation, it is more important to internalize the definition so that when you are conducting consumer research you have a clear understanding of what you are looking for.
Definition of a Consumer Insight
So, what are we looking for? A consumer insight is an underlying motivation or need that explains why a consumer makes a certain decision or behaves in a certain way. But that is not all. When the underlying motivation is uncovered, it is only a consumer insight if it can be applied to a brand in an ownable way to unlock brand growth.
A consumer insight identifies consumers’ beliefs and values that drive their behavior. It provides a deeper understanding of why consumers purchase certain products and dismiss others.
Consumer Insights vs Facts
Be careful to distinguish an insight from a fact. There is a difference. A consumer fact is just a statement about a consumer behavior or the marketplace. Here are examples of facts:
These facts are interesting and might be relevant to a brand, but they don’t explain why people behave the way they do.
Consumer Insights Highlight Pain Points and Opportunities
Consumer Insights shed light on pain points for consumers and uncover potential opportunities for brands. As an example, an insight from the findings above could be articulated as, “People want a luxury car to signal their lifestyle and financial success.” This is an insight because it taps into consumers’ underlying motivation (often more emotional that functional) and a pain point, resulting in an opportunity.
Consumer Insights Must be Ownable
A consumer insight is only valuable if it is relevant and can be applied back to a brand in an ownable way. If competitive brands are already addressing a specific consumer need and motivation, then the insight is true but not necessarily ownable for a brand. A good insight will inspire ideas and communications that allow the brand team to communicate brand benefits in a unique way.
Note that an insight might link to a category benefit, but it can still be ownable by a brand, if it has not been adopted by the competition.
Consumer Insights Unlock Growth
The job of a consumer insight is to highlight the possibility for an emotional connection between a product/service and the consumer. It provides brand teams with the context that explains how the product can be relevant in consumers lives. Understanding the emotional connection between consumers motivations/needs and the brand benefits can fuel creative marketing ideas that will capture the attention and convert consumers along the marketing purchase funnel.
Consumer Insights May Not be Overtly Articulated by Consumers
Note that consumer insights are deeper motivations that are quite often subconscious. In fact, a good consumer insight is often described as an “Aha moment.” Good insights tend to be simple human truths that we don’t discuss, but are still there, right under our noses. Because of this, specialized consumer learning techniques are needed. Ethnography, in-context observation, consumer diaries, and projective techniques like mood boards and semiotics, are required to dig beneath the surface of what consumers say to uncover their actual motivations. This may also require us to look beyond consumers values and lifestyle to macro trends – demographic, economic, pop culture, health, and technology trends that are also influencing consumer behavior.
Tying back to the luxury car example, consumer perceptions are also influenced by economic and geo-political fluctuations such as, inflation, higher gas prices, climate change and the transition to electric vehicles. This can subconsciously change consumer beliefs and behaviors, leading to new consumer insights.
Consumer Insights Summary
The best consumer insights:
✔ Explain WHY? By identifying and articulating an underlying motivation, need or belief that is driving consumer behavior
✔ Address a pain point or point of tension
✔ Are ownable when applied to a brand/product/service
✔ Unlock opportunities, inspiring creative marketing ideas that fuel business growth
To discuss consumer insights with experts from SIVO, please reach out to our team at Contact@SIVOInsights.com
By Leslie Turner – VP, On Demand Talent
Over the past few years, we’ve had the privilege of working with organizations navigating all kinds of change: leadership transitions, unexpected surges in demand, shifting priorities, and the ever-present pressure to do more with less. One consistent theme has emerged: fractional insights talent can be a game-changer.
Not because it replaces full-time researchers. But because it complements them.
We’ve seen fractional researchers step into high-impact roles with speed, empathy, and precision. Whether they are brought in to lead key innovation or brand strategy initiatives, provide Insights leadership or optimize DIY platforms, they can play a key role in helping teams maintain momentum during critical transitions. And they’ve done it all while working alongside internal teams, to stretch their influence and impact.
Fractional insights professionals are seasoned researchers who embed into teams on a flexible, project-based basis. They’re not just temporary workers but strategic partners, who understand the demands of the business. Often former heads of insights or highly experienced research consultants, they bring deep research expertise across methodologies, industries and tools. They work part-time or on-demand, but their contributions are anything but temporary.
"Fractional leadership is the next evolution of the independent contractor economy"
– Sara Daw, Fast Company, July 11, 2025
Marketing research teams are under pressure, with tighter budgets and timelines often competing with higher expectations. It can be hard to anticipate what the next year may bring, and sometimes you just need support now. Fractional talent helps bridge the gap by offering:
They’re especially valuable when your team is trying to scale insights without compromising depth or rigor. We’ve seen them turn raw data into executive-ready outputs, design unbiased surveys, and bring fresh thinking from outside your category, all while working within your existing tools and workflows.
If you’re considering fractional support, here are a few things we’ve learned that help set the stage for success:
Fractional talent isn’t a work-around, it’s a strategic lever. It allows research teams to stay agile, deepen their insights, and build internal capabilities without overextending resources.
Full-time researchers are the backbone of any insights team. Fractional talent simply helps them go further, faster. If your team is thinking about how to balance speed and depth, fractional talent might be the answer.
For further insight into the value of fractional talent and how it could support your team, please reach out. We're always happy to share what we’ve learned, explore your team’s needs, or just talk shop about the future of insights!
If you're part of a consumer insights team, you already know what this time of year looks like. The upcoming start of annual planning season brings high expectations, overlapping requests, and limited capacity. You’re pulling together top trends, completing industry reviews, immersing stakeholders, and expected to deliver fast, sharp guidance that informs decisions across the business. There’s no shortage of urgency. But there is often a shortage of time, hands, and headspace.
In this post, we’ll focus on how teams like yours are preparing for the planning season pressure with smart, flexible insights support. From tips for handling the volume to examples of how fractional talent can plug in fast, this is a practical guide to getting through planning season without compromising on quality.
Planning season can be a moment of high visibility for insights teams. It’s when your work directly shapes decisions on budgets, brand priorities, innovation pipelines, and go-to-market plans. Expectations are high, and so is the payoff if done well.
This is also when the work becomes less linear, as you’re often not managing one big project, but you’re responding to competing needs from multiple teams, often simultaneously. You’re asked to shift from high-level trends to granular customer behavior, to turn data into strategy, and to do it all faster than ever. Internally, you may be running up against resource constraints, limited capacity for synthesis, or pressure to answer questions that haven’t been fully scoped. Stakeholders want insights, leaders want speed, and everyone wants you to predict the future so they can plan better for it.
This is the reality many insights leaders are preparing to navigate right now: how to maintain rigor under pressure, how to prioritize when everything is urgent, and how to protect the quality of insight that drives real decisions.
With overlapping asks and limited time, prioritization becomes a strategic skill. It’s not just about getting things done, but making sure the most valuable work gets done well. Below are a few practical ways we’ve seen insight teams stay focused and deliver effectively under pressure.
Start with internal alignment
Before saying yes to every request, align with key stakeholders on what’s truly critical to planning outcomes. What decisions need to be made in the next few weeks? What’s nice to have versus required? This helps filter the noise and focus resources where they matter most. If you’re a seasoned insights pro, this step probably comes naturally to you.
Map deliverables to decisions
For every request, clarify what decision it’s intended to inform. This helps the team determine how deep to go, what methods are appropriate, and whether existing insights already cover it.
Synthesize what’s already known
Planning often sparks redundant questions. A quick synthesis of past work, organized by theme, audience, or priority, can help prevent unnecessary rework and provide fast traction. Even a short “What We Know” session can help reset expectations and surface gaps more clearly.
Be transparent about trade-offs
Not everything can be done at the same depth, and it’s best to communicate that clearly. Stakeholders usually respond well when you explain what’s possible, what’s at risk, and where additional support would make a difference. This creates space for smarter resourcing decisions, and helps prevent extra stress and burnout among your team.
Build in a checkpoint before things scale
Use a mid-cycle checkpoint to review whether what’s being delivered is actually moving planning forward. If not, it’s better to adjust early than stretch your team to deliver work that won’t be used.
When insight teams hit capacity during planning season, the instinct is often to either say no, or simply push through. But overloading the team rarely leads to strategic work. It leads to shortcuts, slower turnarounds, and deliverables that lack the synthesis stakeholders expect – putting the strategic plans at risks.
Many teams are addressing this challenge by bringing in short-term support. But success depends on who you bring in and how they work. Traditional freelancers or overflow support often require onboarding, guidance, or extra training time. That adds to your workload instead of reducing it, and that’s not what you need when you’re already stretched thin.
What works better is adding insight professionals who understand planning cycles, know how to manage complexity, and can operate as part of your internal team. When done right, this model gives teams the room to focus on what matters most. It protects insight quality while meeting the volume and speed planning requires, and it also reduces pressure on the team, making it possible to stay sharp across multiple workstreams.
At SIVO, we work with companies across industries to extend insights teams during planning season. Our On Demand Talent includes seasoned researchers, strategic thinkers, moderators, planners, and communicators who can step into the specific functions you need. Whether that’s help managing an overflow of qual studies, needing someone to run stakeholder synthesis, or build strategic narratives that tie research to business planning – fractional insight experts are here to help.
You don’t need to compromise quality to meet a deadline, and you don’t need to burn out your team to deliver on planning season demands. Whether you need a sharp moderator for next week’s workstream, a strategic partner to help frame consumer implications, or someone to translate findings into clear planning outputs, we can match the right talent to your exact need.
Need Extra Capacity on Your Insights Team for Planning Season, Fast?
Let’s find your perfect match!
By Anna Stoesz, SIVO Insights in partnership with Yogesh Chavda, Y2S Consulting
There is a moment most insights professionals have experienced.
A well-designed research study is presented to a leadership team. The work is solid. The story lands. Heads nod around the room. And then . . . nothing really happens.
Not because the work wasn’t good, but because the learning wasn’t there when the decisions needed to happen. Often when it’s time to decide where to invest, which ideas to back, or how to prioritize markets, people forget about the great learning and quietly drift back to intuition, internal politics or whatever worked last year.
Now we have added AI into the mix. With AI, we talk about auto‑coding open ends, auto‑summarizing interviews, and auto‑drafting reports. We celebrate the time savings; what used to take three weeks now takes three hours. That is certainly progress, but it is not the whole story.
The more exciting shift we’re seeing is that AI can now give us the building blocks to move from episodic research to real-time decision intelligence.
Instead of treating research as a series of projects, we can begin to work in a more continuous way. By monitoring signals, recognizing patterns, and updating our understanding as behavior shifts, we can see opportunities and risks emerge in something close to real time.
In other words, companies are starting to leverage insights from intelligence engines that sit much closer to where decisions are made.
Historically, this kind of decision intelligence was a luxury reserved for companies’ proprietary models and armies of consultants. While AI doesn’t magically answer strategy questions for us, it does make the classic questions of “where should we play” and ‘how will we win” practical for brands that don’t have blue‑chip consulting budgets.
To get there, we must stop thinking about AI as a faster report writer and start thinking in terms of real-time decision intelligence.
This change will also require a shift in how researchers work.
Intelligence engines are focused, AI‑accelerated and human‑guided systems designed to answer specific strategic questions in an ongoing way. In a mature setup, you might see engines that continuously map segments and demand spaces, surface and prioritize need states, and stress‑test ideas against multiple plausible futures. Each engine tackles one slice of the strategy puzzle and together, they form a practical, reusable decision system.
The pattern is always AI + HI (human intelligence), where the human‑led inputs of clear business questions, curated data, and activation meet an AI‑powered engine. The engines are purpose-built, specialized models tuned to a task with guardrails that only come with deep expertise.
To make this concrete, let’s look at a situation common to both B2B and B2C clients.
A mid‑size health and wellness brand had a segmentation built five years earlier. It was still the official truth, but everyone knew it no longer matched reality. New players had entered; behaviors had shifted; the market had fragmented. Both the marketing and innovation teams were eager for refreshed insights as they moved into the annual plans process, which was quickly approaching.
The team considered refreshing the work as originally designed but knew it would require high costs and months of fieldwork and analysis using traditional large-scale surveys and qualitative research that would mean delivering insights too late to act on.
They came to SIVO to understand how an AI intelligence engine might provide the insights they needed to help with real-time learning to support decision-making during the planning process.
We stood up two AI engines: a refreshed dynamic segmentation and a moments engine.
The segmentation engine ingested existing qualitative and quantitative data, ecommerce data, cultural signals, and continuously incorporated new publicly available data through LLMs. It used clustering to surface needs and motivations, reframing them as current demand spaces and segments rather than fixed “personas.”
Because the heavy lift is automated, we could refresh the view as behaviors shifted without launching a new segmentation.
Once we had a sense of the target audience and their needs, the moments engine was then layered on top. It mined deep LLM research, consumer reviews and behavioral data to surface and bring-to-life micro‑moments across the journey.
For this company, the moments turned “we think awareness is the issue” into something sharper:
The team was elated to get the insights during the planning process, when they were ready to build and act on them.
Any time we move AI closer to strategic decisions, the obvious concern is whether the insights are true or not. For this, three guardrails matter:
Traceability - Every output should be traceable to sources, assumptions, and methods. If you cannot show your work, it’s not insight.
Clear Guardrails - Be explicit about what’s in-scope and where extrapolation begins. Most misuses of AI come from over‑generalizing.
Human‑led design, validation and activation - Engines should feed human judgment, not replace it. The value is in how experts design the engines and how teams use the outputs to frame decision and actions.
Human-led validation of outputs and intuition based on actual consumer interaction is also top of mind throughout the process to ensure we have the right inputs and validation to match the level of risk and rigor of the decision.
Once the guardrails are in place, a new consultative playing field opens for insights professionals. The intelligence engines give researchers the ability to play at a more strategic level and not just inform decision-making but truly own the recommendations and “where to go next” conversations.
For earlier-career team members, intelligence engines put “where to play” framing at your fingertips. This makes it easier to step into these types of conversations sooner, whether that is structuring a problem, exploring options, or contributing to decisions in a more meaningful way.
For more experienced leaders, intelligence engines provide a way to continue consulting and building on prior work. They make it possible to explore multiple paths and scenarios, better understand trade-offs, and test how ideas hold up as conditions evolve.
That is the value of moving from episodic insights to real-time decision intelligence. AI intelligence engines enable you to deliver insights confidently, place well-timed bets, and act with precision when it matters most.
This may be a change for researchers who are not accustomed to delivering insight at the point of decision-making, but one with significant opportunity for greater organizational influence and impact.
SIVO Insights brings together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence. Have a business challenge? Let's talk!
We bring together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence
