nonfiction research

When’s the last time you read a report?

I don’t mean skim. I mean seriously sat down, and truly thought through the report you were reading.

If you’re anything like me, it’s been a while. I usually download the white papers, reports and put them in a folder, often never to be opened again.

Why is that? 

We all know the answer: because they’re boring. The font is small, the paragraphs are thick and the words are often confusing. Even when you do force yourself to read it, you’re often left more confused than before.

Is this how you want your prospects and customers to feel when they read a report you’ve commissioned? Probably not. But how can we make research interesting? How can we make it engaging, and most importantly, useful?

I’m delighted to talk to Gunny Scarfo from Nonfiction Research today. Nonfiction is a research company that (and I quote) “gleefully violates the norms of traditional research, in a crusade to understand the informal, unfiltered lives of customers”. Their research includes everyone from prisoners, to sex workers, to bankers and the average person, and they’ve worked with brands like Disney and Public.com.  They also recently published a fascinating report on the secret financial lives of Americans.

My aim with this episode was to explore how Gunny and his team do their research, and most importantly, how they make their reports interesting. Because they are really interesting, and as I mention on the episode, one of my favourite types of reports to read. Not only that, but their research techniques means they truly understand customers. 

We went very deep in this episode, and here you’ll find insights on how to truly understand your customer (hint: not with focus groups), what immersive research really means, and how to make research useful and publish your findings in an interesting way.

NonFiction's website: https://nonfiction.co/
NonFiction's report, The secret financial lives of Americans and the future of financial services: https://nonfiction.co/nonfiction-research-secret-financial-lives-of-americans
Gunny Scarfo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunnyscarfo/
FMH Slack group: fintechmarketinghub.com/slack