Staying agile in a fast-moving world

Fail fast, pivot faster: the value of growth hacking

By Endrigo Ramos, Global Market and Consumer Insights Manager

Failure is a necessary part of growth. If we accept this – knowing that we will fail on the way to success – let’s do it smartly and learn from it quickly. Applying this mindset to the way we approach consumer market insight at DSM is changing the way we pinpoint the most effective ways to drive business growth.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that the personal care market is changing at lightning speed. Just as one trend hits its stride, the next is on the horizon. And the pandemic has only heightened this reality. It reminds us almost daily that consumer needs are constantly shifting, and that time is of the essence when developing products and solutions that capture their attention. Quite simply, what worked in the past to connect with and reach consumers may not work today.

Insights to answer key questions

Growth hacking can help us stay agile in this shifting landscape. It uses digital tools to test concepts with consumers – a new formulation, a novel product – quickly and inexpensively. Using a blend of marketing, product and data strategies alongside this experimental approach provides valuable insight early on by answering key questions: Which concepts have promise? And which ones fail this first important test? These answers can help us to validate or pivot; explore the idea further or set it aside and move on. This willingness to accept failure as a necessary element of business success and a driver of growth is a key part of the growth hacking approach.

Tools to know consumers better

Digital acceleration has resulted in a diverse range of growth hacking tools designed for fast and cheap experimentation. To name just a few: Voxpopme (https://www.voxpopme.com/), UsabilityHub (https://usabilityhub.com/), SparkToro (https://sparktoro.com/) , SEMRush (https://www.semrush.com/ and many more. These tools enable audience and content research, surveys and concept testing, with results delivered in a matter of days (and sometimes hours).

This method is a clear contrast to traditional research tools that are often more expensive and have a longer cycle. To be sure, both methods serve a key purpose, and a holistic approach to Consumer and Market and Insights often combines both. But the emergence and acceptance of digital tools is teaching us that sound market and consumer research doesn’t have to be costly or take many months. We already know that time is of the essence, and growth hacking’s focus on quick experimentation shows us where to focus and dive deeper. This information is crucial in our work with customers to create products that speak to their consumers’ needs and make a difference in their lives.

Hacking hair care

At DSM, we embraced growth hacking to develop a new concept for one of our hair care ingredients and even better connect to consumer needs. This concept ingredient offers volume and long-lasting care for all types of hair, but we wanted to know if there were any additional benefits consumers also want in their volumizing products. Using a combination of growth hacking tools - SparkToro (search demand), semrush (competitive intelligence), and Voxpopme (video surveys) - we learned that a lack of vitality was also a consumer pain point, and that shine was a much-desired benefit they want on top from their volumizing products.

Taking this insight to DSM scientists, they conducted a half-head hairdresser test comparing a market volume shampoo with and without some of our ingredients. The results confirmed that shine was indeed improved by the addition of our hair care ingredient in the market volume shampoo in our test conditions, as well as movement, validating their inclusion in our new concept.

Failing fast and moving on

This insight led to the next step of our hack: testing the updated concept via Usability Hub. This growth hacking tool enables concept testing with a global panel of consumers that can be segmented by age, income and other metrics depending on scope. In this hack, we tested two new hair care concepts against the current one in order to experiment with storytelling that includes shine and movement on top of volume as a key benefit. One of the two new concepts failed (45% consumer preference). The winner was the concept that received 60% of consumer preferences. One key learning based on consumers’ comments was their appreciation of a very descriptive mode of action of the formulation ingredient and the related benefits towards the hair.

We continued our hack to test consumer perceptions about solid shampoos, a newer formulation concept that’s generating interest among customers. Based on this survey, consumers believe solid shampoos are more sustainable than liquid (77%) and shouldn’t cost less than liquid (70%), according to the roughly 100 consumers that participated in this quick experiment via Usability Hub.

From these learnings we developed a new conceptual line up called “Its Voluminous.” It contains a range of hair care products that deliver eye-popping volume plus lustrous shine and movement. Part of the It’s Voluminous lineup, our new product concept is a waterless, solid format packaged in a recycled and recyclable box - a more sustainable option for getting volume, shine and movement in one solution - confirmed by a new instrumental test.

Staying agile in a fast-moving world

Change is never easy or comfortable, and neither is failure for that matter. But both are necessary steps on the path to growth. At DSM, embracing growth hacking and digital tools is helping us to change and adapt to today’s market landscape by using this more agile and experimental approach. Knowing what consumers want – quickly and inexpensively – enables us to bring more value to our own customers and boost the potential of their products in the market.?