5 Lessons for Transformative Market Research from Eli Lilly

Understanding and adopting transformative strategies in market research can be the difference between staying relevant and falling behind. Changing up your strategies also allows you to discover more nuanced insights that pave the way for tailored customer interactions and focused marketing efforts.

TriVoca Health’s President Shannon Childs sat down with Shellie Miller, Senior Director of Insights & Capabilities at Eli Lilly, for a glimpse into how the company is transforming its approach to market research. Discover five transformative lessons that could redefine how your organization approaches market research, ensuring you focus on what truly matters: speed, efficiency, and the people at the heart of every study.

Step Out of the Comfort Zone

If the pressure to adapt and remain agile in an ever-changing, tech-driven world weighs heavily on you, know that you're not alone. It is precisely this pressure that made Eli Lilly embrace a new era of insights by shifting from traditional methodologies to faster, more agile approaches. This transformation began with Eli Lilly taking an internal look at their processes and assessing them, followed by seeking an external perspective to gain fresh insights.  Shellie emphasized the pivotal role of self-reflection in initiating this journey, highlighting the need to challenge the comfort of established practices and commit to meaningful change.

“As our business was evolving and growing, we knew that in order to move with speed, and in order to focus on our customer who is most important and the patients who need our medicines, we needed to continue to think differently and evolve.” - Shellie Miller

Partnership Is Key

Transformation is not a solo endeavor. Strong partnerships continue to be the backbone of progress, and they are key to standing out against competition. This includes welcoming constructive feedback and being vulnerable to areas needing improvement to foster a collaborative environment. This is why Eli Lilly focused on intentional communication through biweekly and quarterly strategic meetings, contributing to building stronger partnerships both internally and with external partners such as TriVoca Health.

"We needed to not only look in the mirror, but we needed some of our trusted partners to be able to say, ‘Hey, here's where maybe you're behind in the industry’ or ‘here's what we're seeing as working better than something that you're doing.’” -Shellie Miller

Diversity Meets Efficiency

Your audience most likely includes people who vary in ethnicity, age, gender, and other demographics, which reflects the world we live in today. Achieving diversity in research doesn’t have to slow things down. By planning for inclusivity from the beginning of the research process, you ensure that diverse populations are represented in studies without last-minute scrambling. Eli Lilly grappled with the balance between speed and diversity in their research efforts. The need to engage diverse populations while also moving swiftly to bring medications to patients presented a complex challenge. Lilly recognized the necessity of being proactive in their planning and recruitment processes. Creative recruitment strategies tailored to reach different demographics were the key to this approach

Reimagine the Respondent Experience

Respondents are the lifeblood of all market research, and keeping them engaged is essential to success. By prioritizing tactics like shorter surveys and mobile optimization (not just capability), Eli Lilly enhanced the experience for research participants. This approach ensures respondents’ time and efforts are respected, which in turn results in more meaningful insights.

“It's about our customer experience in all aspects. If you think about how many times a customer can engage, touch, and talk with, or even indirectly or directly with a pharma company, or any company for that matter, it's a lot. So it's about balancing how often we do the customer satisfaction surveys in the right way, in a standardized way and in a short, timely way.” -Shellie Miller

The Importance of Education and Internal Buy-in

Shifting the way insights are gathered is a journey that requires everyone's support. There is an importance placed on ongoing education within Eli Lilly’s market research community. By clarifying key concepts and aligning on best practices, you effectively break down barriers that often come with change, especially for seasoned professionals with vast experience in traditional methods. Education builds the foundation for a unified, forward-thinking team.

Eli Lilly is pioneering a new approach to market research by embracing agility and technology, building robust partnerships for clear collaboration, emphasizing diversity while maintaining efficiency, enhancing the respondent experience for deeper insights, and supporting transformations with continuous education and internal support.

Embracing these five transformative lessons streamlines your organization’s research approach and enhances the quality and relevance of the insights gathered, ensuring better decision-making. The journey to better market research may challenge conventional wisdom, but as Eli Lilly demonstrates, the outcome is a more dynamic, responsive, and people-centered approach.

 

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