It’s tempting to focus your research budget on your most loyal or frequent users. They’re easier to reach, more likely to respond to surveys, and can offer positive feedback that affirms your current strategy. But if you’re only listening to the customers who already love your brand, you’re missing the bigger picture – and the biggest opportunities.

Light and lapsed users represent a vital, often untapped source of insight. Light users are those who buy or engage with your product or service infrequently. Lapsed users are people who once engaged regularly but have dropped off.

Why do light users stay on the sidelines? Why did lapsed users walk away? The answers to these questions often point directly to unmet needs – things your current offering, messaging, pricing, or experience isn’t solving for. Identifying and addressing these needs can:

• Increase conversion by nudging light users into heavier usage
• Drive re-engagement of past customers
• Inform product or service improvements based on real pain points
• Reveal competitive threats or blind spots in your positioning

Why This Segment Gets Overlooked

Studying light or lapsed users isn’t always easy. They may be harder to reach and less responsive. Their feedback may be more critical or ambiguous. But that’s exactly why modern market research tools like Alida are so valuable – they give companies a direct digital line to these voices.

Unfortunately, many teams stop short of digging deeper into the consumer insights these tools produce. They may see low participation and conclude that “lapsed users just aren’t interested” or “light users don’t matter.” In reality, the signals are there – they’re just more subtle, and require a more focused research lens.

Example: A consumer app brand notices that 40% of its mobile downloaders only use the product once before churning. A short survey in Alida reveals that many users didn’t understand the app’s core value after the first use. That’s a clear unmet need: onboarding clarity. Small tweaks here could pull many of these users back into the fold. (Note: this is a hypothetical example for illustration.)

Making the Case Internally

For decision-makers, it can be hard to get buy-in around researching “non-customers.” But when framed as a chance to uncover what’s blocking more growth, the value becomes clear. Companies that better understand why light users stay light – or why lapsed users leave – are better positioned to win them back.

In the sections that follow, we’ll share the specific challenges teams face when designing DIY research around low-engagement users, and how to overcome these obstacles by combining Alida’s speed and reach with expert human insight.

Platforms like Alida offer speed, accessibility, and convenience – allowing teams to run surveys, communities, and pulse checks with ease. But when it comes to studying lapsed or light users, DIY research tools often fall short if the scope, design, or analysis isn’t approached strategically. These consumers are less engaged to begin with, which means your research needs to work harder to capture their attention and surface meaningful customer insights.

Here are some of the most common problems companies face when trying to explore unmet needs using Alida:

• Low response rates: Lapsed users may not want to participate, or they simply don’t see the value in providing feedback. Light users might ignore your outreach or provide brief, low-quality answers.
• Shallow questions yield shallow answers: Standardized survey templates often fall short when exploring why someone disengaged. To identify subtle consumer feedback triggers, your questions need to be thoughtful, conversational, and context-driven.
• Data without direction: Even when responses come in, teams may struggle to interpret patterns or translate them into specific next steps. This is especially true for teams without dedicated data analysts or experience with behavioral drivers.
• Lack of segmentation: Treating lapsed or light users as one generic group leads to oversimplified findings. For example, some users may churn due to cost, others due to confusion, and others due to better alternatives. Without proper consumer segmentation, these differences get lost.
• Platform limitations: Alida excels at collecting responses, but not every team knows how to customize flows, integrate qualitative follow-ups, or interpret open-ended results in a meaningful way.

Why These Gaps Matter

When feedback from lapsed or light users is shallow or fragmented, it creates false negatives – making it seem like there are no actionable insights. That can lead to underestimating the business impact of solving for unmet needs. Worse, teams may shift resources elsewhere, missing a meaningful opportunity for growth and product refinement.

How On Demand Talent Helps

Alida is a powerful platform – especially when paired with the right expertise. This is where On Demand Talent from SIVO can bridge the gap. Our network of seasoned insights professionals can help you:

• Develop audience-specific questions tailored to disengaged users
• Optimize targeting strategies to improve participation rates
• Run deeper analyses of Alida data to identify patterns and themes
• Translate feedback into strategic recommendations for your product or CX teams

Unlike freelancers or consultants who need time to ramp up, On Demand Talent experts hit the ground running – experienced in both Alida and the nuances of market research tools. They serve as a flexible extension of your team, helping you improve research outcomes without the need for full-time hires.

In the next section, we’ll share best practices to uncover unmet needs effectively – using Alida's capabilities to engage these harder-to-reach audiences with insight and intention.

Alida is a powerful DIY research tool, but getting from survey results to actionable insights – especially when studying light or lapsed users – can be challenging. These groups often provide limited feedback, which makes identifying true unmet needs feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. So how do teams use Alida to uncover what's missing from the customer experience or product journey?

Start with intentional questioning

Uncovering unmet needs starts with the right questions and audience targeting. It's important to avoid relying only on generic satisfaction questions like “What did you like/dislike?” Instead, tap into open-ended prompts such as:

• “What would have made your experience better?”
• “Why did you stop using our product/service?”
• “What alternatives do you use today – and how do they work better for you?”

For light users, these questions often reveal gaps in relevance or value. For lapsed users, they can uncover friction points or new competitors pulling attention away.

Use community tools and follow-ups

Alida’s platform offers more than static surveys. Use its built-in community features to probe deeper. If a lapsed user mentions canceling due to price, follow up with a short video or poll asking about ideal pricing models or value perceptions. This layered approach improves response rates and enables trend detection over time, even among participants who initially seem disengaged.

Segment and compare behavior patterns

Alida’s analytics can help you compare usage patterns and verbatim themes across user groups. For example, if light users consistently mention confusion at sign-up, while heavy users don’t, that’s a clue pointing to unmet onboarding needs. Similarly, if lapsed users frequently mention switching due to specific features your brand lacks, you’ve identified innovation white space.

Segments to consider when using Alida to explore unmet customer needs include:

• Tenure length (new vs. old users)
• Frequency of use (light vs. heavy users)
• Engagement actions (opened app, added to cart, canceled, etc.)

Contextualize feedback – don’t just count it

Counting responses alone won’t reveal the ‘why.’ Instead, look for emotional language and underlying motivations within open-text feedback. AI features within Alida can support this to some degree – but human interpretation remains critical. A user saying, “It wasn’t for me,” might seem like a dead end, but in context it could signal issues with aspiration, relevance, or community fit.

In short, while Alida provides the tools, discovering unmet customer needs using Alida requires thoughtful inputs, layered analysis, and human interpretation – especially for low-engagement audiences like lapsed or light users.

While Alida empowers organizations to conduct DIY research faster and more independently, many teams find themselves asking: "Are we really extracting the full value from this tool?" That’s where On Demand Talent can make a big difference.

Expert pairing with flexible needs

Alida works best when guided by professionals who understand both the platform and the broader research objective. SIVO’s On Demand Talent connects you with seasoned insights professionals who can step in quickly to:

• Design studies that uncover deep unmet needs
• Build thoughtful segments (like light and lapsed user cohorts)
• Craft high-quality research questions and discussion prompts
• Interpret complex feedback and behavioral data

These experts don’t require upfront training – they bring years of hands-on experience and can plug in within days, not months.

Go beyond surface-level feedback

Too often, teams using DIY tools like Alida fall into the trap of gathering lots of data, but failing to translate it into usable strategy. On Demand Talent can bridge this gap by bringing a storytelling mindset to your research findings. Whether it’s simplifying insights for internal stakeholders or connecting findings to business outcomes, ODT professionals elevate your Alida outputs from "interesting" to "actionable."

Support for overstretched insights teams

We often see growing companies or insights functions tasked with "doing more with less." DIY tools may promise flexibility, but not having the bandwidth or expertise on hand can lead to underused subscriptions and missed opportunities. On Demand Talent provides targeted surge support, so your team can rely on skilled talent exactly when needed – from pilot projects to major product launches.

Capability-building for long-term use

One of the biggest advantages of SIVO’s On Demand Talent is that it’s not just about short-term execution. Many teams also lean on these professionals as a way to build internal capabilities over time. Whether it's co-creating a reusable Alida research framework or training your staff on how to better engage light/lapsed users, this support leaves your organization more self-sufficient for the future.

Bottom line: If you’re wondering how to get deeper insights from lapsed users or make better use of Alida, a flexible, experienced insights expert through On Demand Talent can turn your DIY tech investment into real strategic value.

DIY platforms like Alida offer speed and cost efficiency – but that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. Knowing when to bring in research experts can mean the difference between surface-level feedback and insights that spark real innovation.

So, when is the right time to ask for help?

Here are some of the most common signals that it’s time to involve expert insight professionals:

You’re targeting difficult audiences

If you’re running studies with hard-to-reach segments like lapsed users or low-engagement customers, it’s easy to misread the data. Experts can help pinpoint what's below the surface – like unmet expectations or changes in competitive perception – that tools alone might miss.

You're drowning in data, not insights

Alida can generate large volumes of feedback quickly. But many teams feel stuck after collecting responses – unsure how to prioritize them or translate the results into action. Bringing in expert support ensures nothing is lost in translation, and everything connects back to business goals.

Speed matters, but so does quality

Deadlines won’t wait, but rushed research can do more harm than good. If your team is short on time or overwhelmed with other priorities, On Demand Talent allows you to move fast without compromising the strategic quality of your insights.

You’re investing in Alida – but barely using it

Many companies find they've only scratched the surface of what Alida can do. Experienced researchers can maximize your ROI by showing you underused features, helping to design more effective studies, and building internal templates for repeat use.

You’re building – or rebuilding – internal research capabilities

Whether you're growing your insights function or navigating team transitions, On Demand Talent can temporarily fill skill gaps or lead initiatives that keep your momentum going. From short-term coverage to launching entirely new research workflows, experienced professionals can help stabilize and elevate your research during critical periods.

Platforms like Alida are just one part of the insights equation. With the right experts supporting at the right moments, you can balance speed, cost, and depth – and ultimately, make better decisions built on a clearer understanding of your customers' unmet needs.