How to Translate Business Goals into Effective Research

To select the right research method, you need to formulate the research task correctly. Let’s take a look at an algorithm for doing so.

Formulate the Business Task

This might seem straightforward. For example, you look at the metrics, spot a problem (something is unclear, doesn’t match expectations or common sense), and want to understand where it comes from. It might feel like “understanding” is the business task, but that’s a poor task. A business task is always tied to business goals.

Business goals, in turn, are always linked to metrics and expressed in terms of changing specific, important business indicators. For instance, increase revenue to XX, reduce costs by XX percent, boost purchase frequency to XX, lower the number of negative reviews by XX percent, and so on.

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A business task is what needs to be done to achieve a specific business goal, expressed as a change in a measurable indicator.

Identify the Decisions Needed to Address the Business Task

Any business task involves unknowns. There are multiple ways to tackle it, and each approach will impact goal achievement differently. You need to decide how exactly to address a given task. At this stage, you should formulate a list of such decisions.

Business goal (what you want to achieve in terms of business): Define what metric you want to change and by how much.
Business task (what actions you need to take to achieve your business goal): Break down the goal into specific tasks you need to complete to achieve the goal.
Business decision (what decisions you need to make to complete the business task): Decide how to solve the specific tasks to achieve the goal.

Transform the Required Business Decisions into a Research Task

All the variety of business decisions can be boiled down to four main types. Each decision has its own criteria (conditions) for being made. To check whether a specific condition is met, you’ll need certain information. Obtaining the information required to make a business decision is precisely what a research task entails.

Business Decision	Condition Research Task
To formulate (a need, an idea, an area for improvement)	To formulate this, I need to gather insights about XX.
To create or not to create (a specific product, feature, ad)	To decide whether to create something, I need to evaluate XX. If XX is <>= YY, then I move forward with creation.
To choose (the best option, e.g. an ad, packaging design, naming)	To make a choice, I need to measure XX. If XX is <>= YY, then I select option A.
To continue or not to continue (creating a specific product, feature, ad)	To decide whether to keep moving forward, I need to assess the results. If XX is <>= YY, then I continue.

Clearly defining the decision-making criteria helps determine exactly what needs to be learned during the research. This, in turn, influences the choice of research method.