Writing Insights: The SMT Method

Consumer insight is the result of work, often iterative: deepening and cross-checking several sources of understanding (observational, conversational mode, etc.). The SMT© method is a writing approach that allows you to share, by limiting ambiguities, the fruit of your understanding with other actors in the value chain in your organization.

From inspiring signal to insight

We have already stressed that it is necessary to distinguish inspirational signals from consumer insight. Inspiring signals correspond to all the information to which marketers can be exposed and which can be a source of interest, surprise and inspiration for the projects on which they are working. These inspiring subjects can come from a wide variety of sources (digital monitoring, ethnographic observations, market studies, professional exchanges, foresight, etc.). It is the grouping of these inspiring signals, which constitute so many clues, which allows the marketer to form a substantiated conviction on “what is at stake”. It is then that with this knowledge, he is able to extract actionable, clear and easily understood consumer insights without risk of misinterpretation. These insights will feed into the development of offers. It is therefore necessary that what has been “understood” can be properly “shared” within the organization, and without ambiguity.

The principle of the SMT© method

The SMT© methodaims to formulate the insight in such a way that it restores sufficiently detailed knowledge of what has been collected through different sources, but in a sufficiently concise format. As we have emphasized, the objective is to avoid ambiguity as much as possible. If such ambiguity is inevitable very early on, while we mix different inspiring signals, on an operational level it is necessary to be able to converge towards a truly actionable consumer insight. Because at this level, ambiguity, over time, would constitute a barrier or even a danger for a customer-centric organization.

The insight will therefore be structured, and its formulation will include three types of indication:

• It will contain asubject (S): who will determine what it is, the context, the situation, etc.
• To this subject will correspond amotivation (M): it will specify why this is important for the consumer. Motivation is the “engine” of our decision-making choices. It is therefore essential to highlight it in an insight,
• Finally, and without which this insight would be incomplete, it must contain avoltage (T): it designates the limits or possible obstacles (notably in the experience currently experienced by the consumer) which make the satisfaction of this motivation (M) in the context of this subject (S), imperfect or even unsatisfactory.

In an insight thus structured, we see that there is a dilemma between motivation (positive psychological force: what we would like to satisfy) and tension (negative psychological force: what constitutes a brake). And this dilemma is linked to a precise context, illustrated by the subject, so it is clearly contextualized. As we have said elsewhere, this form of insight allows:

• To reformulate with a consumer in order to ensure that we have understood “what is at stake”,
• Share insights with the project team without first risking a lack of precision or inducing ambiguities which will delay the project,
• Provide a communications brief to ensure that communicators understand the context of the customer need.

On the other hand, this formulation of consumer insight is not particularly intended to embody a communicational insight because it does not lend itself well to writing an advertising hook.

Around SMT© consumer insight...

If this triptych constitutes all necessary for a truly actionable consumer insight, other information can be integrated into your formulation:

• THEemotions(and therefore the words which express them) linked to this insight, when it is felt or experienced by the target concerned,
• THEsensations(and therefore words which express them) linked to this insight, very important for example in hygiene-beauty (texture, etc...) but not only,
• THEfeelings(and therefore the words which express them), linked to this insight,
• lafrequencywith which this truth delivered by insight presents itself,
• leplacewhere it occurs,
• THEpeoplewith whom this insight generally takes place,
• lacategoryproduct or service linked to this insight,
• etc.

Each of these elements does not necessarily make sense in an insight. The sensation or feeling, for example, could in certain cases be of no interest. The mention of the category, in the same way, may make sense in certain cases or, on the contrary, make the insight much too specific. It is up to the writer of the insight to carefully evaluate the dimensions that must be integrated into the insight. But let's not forget that in the end, the wording conditions the "story" that this insight tells.

Pay attention to your writing

Sometimes the choice of a word will determine the angle of your insight. A slight change can make an insight more relevant to one customer segment than another.
We must therefore be particularly attentive to what this insight, once formulated, will “say” to different targets. This is the principle of alterocentrality, very important for insight but also for concept writing.