Why Insights Matter: From Avoiding Mistakes to Creating Advantage

John Kandemir
11 hours ago
4 min read

In Part 1, The Cost of Not Listening: Why Insights Matter, I shared examples of what happens when organizations skip consumer insights: flawed assumptions, misallocated investments, and solutions that fail to resonate with customers.

The opposite is also true. When insights are applied early, and embedded throughout the process, they don’t just reduce risk, they actively create competitive advantage.

The following examples are from manufacturing and service industries highlight how listening first can shape better decisions, faster development, and stronger outcomes.

1) Knowing when not to pursue an opportunity

While working at International Paper’s Foodservice division, we explored expanding into new markets to drive growth in paper cups and containers. One idea was to replace plastic cups used in bars and beer distribution with paper alternatives.

Rather than launching into formal research immediately, I reached out to professors in Brewing Science programs at universities such as Appalachian State University, Wayne State College, and Middle Tennessee State University.

The feedback was immediate and consistent. The professors emphasized that beer should not be consumed from containers like plastic or paper at all. Proper beer consumption requires specific glassware, with different beer styles ideally served in different types of glasses to preserve aroma, flavor, and overall experience.

They further explained that paper, in particular, negatively affects foam stability, aroma, and taste, often creating the perception that the beer has gone bad.

A few targeted conversations quickly ruled out what could have been a costly and time-consuming commercialization effort. Not all insights require large budgets, sometimes, the right voices can provide clarity in minutes.

2) Understanding how customer priorities evolve

In another role at International Paper, I worked on diagnosing declining share within Nevamar, a high-pressure laminate used in countertops and commercial surfaces.

On paper, Nevamar had a strong advantage: highly durable, scratch-resistant products that could last 20+ years. Yet the business was losing share to Wilsonart.

Through interviews and surveys with builders, architects, distributors, and homeowners, we uncovered a critical shift. Durability, once a key selling point, had become less relevant. Customers were renovating kitchens every 8–10 years, making extreme longevity unnecessary.

What mattered instead was speed, availability, and design variety. Nevamar lagged in all three, with longer lead times compared to competitors.

The insight reframed the problem entirely: success was no longer about engineering the most durable product, but about aligning with how customers actually purchase and use the category.

3) Moving from testing to co-creation

At Givaudan, one of the world’s leading flavor companies, product development traditionally involved long cycles of creating and shipping samples back and forth with food manufacturers.

To improve this process, Givaudan introduced a flavor development technology that allowed flavorists to adjust taste and aroma components in real time.

Initially, this improved internal efficiency, but the real breakthrough came when we brought customers and end users directly into the process. For example, when developing a strawberry flavor for a cereal product, we invited target consumers (in this case, students) to participate in live sessions.

Instead of guessing preferences, we enabled real-time co-creation. The result was faster development, stronger alignment with consumer expectations, and fewer iterations. In many cases, it also reduced or eliminated competitive bake-offs.

Insights were no longer a validation step at the end; they became a core part of creation.

4) Turning feedback into actionable improvement

In the K-12 foodservice environment, collecting student feedback was often viewed as unnecessary or even counterproductive. Strict regulations around nutrition, cost, and ingredients made it difficult to fully meet expectations, leading many operators to assume feedback wouldn’t be useful.

Despite this, we implemented a national voice-of-the-customer survey platform to better understand student preferences and perceptions.

The objective wasn’t perfection, it was progress. By analyzing results school by school, we identified what mattered most locally and where targeted improvements could increase participation.

One of the most valuable insights was redefining “quality.” For students, quality wasn’t a single attribute, it was a combination of taste, freshness, and variety.

Without structured feedback, we would have continued relying on assumptions. With it, we were able to prioritize improvements that actually mattered to the end user.

Across all of these examples, one theme is consistent: insights are not just a safeguard against failure, they are a driver of better outcomes.

They help organizations focus resources, accelerate development, and design experiences that truly resonate. In complex, human-centered industries, the cost of guessing is high, but the value of listening is even higher.

If Part 1 was about the cost of not listening, Part 2 is about the tangible benefits of getting it right. If you need support with consumer insights, operational challenges, or growth strategy, please reach out to 4xi Global Consulting.

John Kandemir

CMO in Residence

4xi Global Consulting

Global amenity services and operations, transforming the work experience, and leveraging the 4xi strategic and tactical network.

You can contact John directly at johnkandemir@4xiconsulting.com or learn more about John by reading his bio.

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