Breakthrough innovations don’t start with brainstorms; they start with deeper insights

“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”

This quote, attributed to Henry Ford, suggests that talking to customers isn’t much help when developing breakthrough products. The logic goes that if you spend all your working hours immersed in your category and the technology needed to change the game, you’re bound to be more of an expert than someone who only has a passing relationship with your product.

But the problem isn’t the act of asking, it’s what you ask and how you ask it. If you’re asking people what they want, you’re already on the wrong track. In qualitative research, especially when aiming for deeper insight, the goal isn’t to take consumer suggestions literally. It’s to uncover the needs, frustrations and desires that consumers might struggle to articulate. The hidden truth that sparks fresh thinking.

Right time, right place

Qualitative research projects sometimes fail to deliver useful insights when organisations bring people into the innovation process at the wrong time. Often, participants are brought in towards the end of the R&D process and by the time they’re consulted, budget, time and resources have been spent, and ideas are already well-developed. So, it becomes an exercise in giving feedback rather than revealing opportunity. How research is conducted can also prevent deeper insights from being gained.

For example, focus groups are a common go-to for qualitative research, but they’re not always the best route to deeper insight. Why? If you put a few strangers in a room for 90 minutes you’ll often get polite, cautious answers. People watch what they say, and with so little time, you can’t truly dig into everyone’s experiences.

Asking better questions

If people can’t always tell you what they want, or even articulate exactly what they feel is wrong with a product, how can they possibly help with innovation? The answer lies in asking the right questions at the right time. 

The most valuable time to involve people in innovation research is right at the start, even before initial innovation ideas are formed. At this point in the R&D process, people are not being asked to critique; they’re revealing opportunities by sharing their experiences, habits and frustrations. 

This is where Deeper Insight research comes into its own; rather than asking people what they want, we encourage R&D to use methodologies that help us scratch beneath the surface. At the simplest end, that might be a show-and-tell session in their own home, where they talk us through either in person or via video, and even show us, how they use a category and the products they buy. To uncover the more complex, harder-to-express emotions tied to a category, we use projective techniques, in which we ask people to project their feelings onto an image, a scenario, or even a celebrity. This sidesteps the conscious filters we all use and taps into deeper subconscious associations.

Why finding the truth is so tricky

Investing in understanding your users almost always reveals something of value, but getting to that point isn’t simple. One of the biggest hurdles is what researchers call the say–do gap. In other words, what people say doesn’t always match what they do. You might assume that if you ask someone a direct question, they’ll give you a reasonably accurate answer. But, it’s not that straightforward. It’s rarely about dishonesty, most people genuinely want to be helpful. But some topics, like health or money, can be more sensitive, so people tread carefully, for fear of being judged. Other times, the truth is they just don’t know. So much of our behaviour runs on autopilot that it barely leaves a trace in our memory. Try recalling everything you ate last week, or even yesterday – most of us would struggle. Finding the right words can also be a challenge. People often feel things that are difficult to articulate, especially when the experience is abstract, such as the way a sauce tastes, the scent of fresh laundry, or the emotion stirred by a piece of music.

A great example of how habitual behaviour goes unnoticed came from research we carried out for a laundry powder. One participant sang the product’s praises and stated that she had no issues with it. But, when we observed her testing the product at home, she reached for a kitchen knife to hack the box open, something she barely noticed herself. That small, almost invisible moment pointed to a packaging fix that could make life easier for thousands of customers.

The human factor: why moderation matters

Projective techniques can be powerful, but they are only as effective as the person leading the conversation. Good moderators quickly build rapport, create an environment where people feel safe to be honest, and are skilled at interpreting abstract or metaphorical responses. They know how to connect seemingly small moments back to the organisation’s broader innovation goals. And R&D trained moderators are exceptionally good at extracting product insights with strong R&D recommendations that guide new developments.

In a study on male skincare, one teenage participant shared a picture of a goblin-like creature to represent how unattractive he feels when he has spots. Getting to the heart of something so personal takes real tact and empathy from a moderator and only comes from building the kind of trust that encourages someone to open up without feeling exposed.

It’s this mix of empathy, observation and analytical thinking that turns raw conversation into genuine Deeper Insight. The kind that can guide product innovation in meaningful, resonant ways.

AI’s role in insight research

No discussion about the future of qualitative research would be complete without mentioning AI. It’s already embedded in many research platforms, from AI chatbots that can run basic interviews to sophisticated tools that can summarise and find themes from large amounts of qualitative data in minutes rather than days.

But AI still lacks the warmth, agility and strategic context that human researchers bring, and at present, it’s no substitute for high-quality qualitative research, especially when it comes to uncovering deeper insights. Where it shines is in complementing those human skills, freeing researchers from time-consuming tasks so they can focus on interpreting nuance, exploring emotional undercurrents, and linking insights to wider business strategies. Used well, AI can then help researchers turn a mountain of qualitative data into a coherent, inspiring springboard for innovation. 

Four ways to gain deeper insights from research

1. Start with clear objectives – Define what you want to learn and how it will feed into your innovation pipeline.
2. Recruit with care – Look for people who not only represent a real business opportunity but are also articulate, imaginative and keen to engage.
3. Get into their world – Home visits and digital diaries give you access to the habits, surroundings and emotions that shape behaviour in real life, with real people.
4. Invest in skilled moderators – They have the experience to design research that draws people out, and the analytical ability to turn conversations into strong recommendations.

Deeper insight research is no small task, but done well, it can transform your innovation process by uncovering richer, more actionable insights that align new products with real human needs.

Ultimately, it’s about recognising that while Henry Ford knew everything about making cars, he underestimated how much people can tell you when using deeper research approaches and deeper research analysis.

Written by Sharon Powell