2-minute read
Insights drive innovation, but they only matter if you turn them into creative ideas. The key is to take one strong insight and use it to spark many new possibilities.
An insight is more than an observation. It exposes a deeper truth about customer behavior, market dynamics, or business performance. For example, observation: Customers often abandon their shopping carts.
- Insight: Customers don’t trust the website’s payment security.
The second statement gets to the reason behind what’s happening, which is where ideation begins. By following a structured approach, you can thoroughly explore the issue and generate numerous possible solutions. Here’s a simple process for turning insights into actionable ideas.
The Core of the Process
Once you have an insight, use structured creativity to generate ideas. Avoid stopping at the first option and explore several ways to address the core issue.
One of the most effective ways to turn an insight into ideas is to utilize the “How Might We” framework. This approach turns your insight into an open question, helping you focus on what’s possible instead of just the problem. Here’s how you can do it.
1. Reframe the Insight
Ask: What else could this insight mean?
- Insight: Customers want faster delivery.
- Ideas: Offer same-day delivery, partner with local stores for pickup, or create a subscription service for guaranteed speed.
2. Use Creative Techniques
Structured creativity techniques help multiply your options: For example:
- SCAMPER: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse.
- Lateral Thinking: Challenge assumptions, random entry, provocation.
- Brainstorming: Rapidly explore variations.
3. Generate Both Incremental and Bold Ideas
Don’t just settle for safe ideas. Try to come up with at least one bold option, in addition to the practical ones.
- Insight: Customers often struggle to understand product pricing.
- Ideas: Simplify packaging, create an interactive calculator, or reinvent the pricing model with a flat subscription.
4. Capture Many Variations
A single insight can lead to five, ten, or even twenty ideas. Having numerous options helps you avoid weak ideas and reduces your risk.
- It gives you options to test and refine.
- It often reveals hybrid ideas that combine the best features of both.
5. Evaluate and Cluster Ideas
Once you have your ideas, sort them into groups like quick fixes, customer experience improvements, or new business models. This makes it easier to choose what to test first.
Why This Process Is Valuable
Turning insights into different ideas ensures you don’t lock yourself into one path too early. Instead, you:
- Maximize creativity and option value.
- Increase your chance of finding the most effective solution.
- Build a foundation for concepts that can become competitive advantages.
Conclusion
Insights show you what’s really going on, but ideas give you choices. By looking at insights in new ways, using creative methods, and mixing safe and bold thinking, you can build a set of ideas. Each one could help solve your problem and give your business an edge.
Cheers Jim Zitek
I Turn Complex Product Problems Into Creative Solutions
With a Competitive Advantage
Note: Additional information on insights can be found in my blog post.
