Recent research suggests that one in five surveys contains fraudulent data. This is a major problem, especially if you using survey data to inform your decisions.

​Paul Young, from Pragmatic Marketing, points out that "data is just data, and before we draw conclusions, there is a set of sanity checks we need to run against the data first."

Relying Purely on Intuition, Experience and Mind-Reading Proved Unfruitful

At first, prior to using SurveyGold, Katy tried a reasonable and well-intentioned approach to designing new tools. To be sure, Katy has a lot of experience to draw upon. She has penned a career advice column for 15+ years and was named one of five top career counselors in the United States by the National Career Development Association. She also holds a Master of Education degree from Colorado State University in Vocational Education, Career Development and Career Counseling. 

Despite her best efforts, she reports that her efforts meet with frustration.

This ultimately leads her to consider using a more effective and efficient market-driven approach to gaining the understanding required to develop solutions that resonate with her market.

Regrouping: LEAN Development with a Specific Kind of Survey Tool in Mind

Katy shifts gears and decides to use a LEAN development methodology to gain new insights into the problems in the market. Surveys are a crucial part of the process. Yet, when it comes time to pick a survey tool, she has a very specific set of requirements and apprehensions.

Using SurveyGold: Quick and Easy Survey Creation and Deployment

SurveyGold proves to be her selection. Despite having no prior experience using survey tools, Katy designs and deploys surveys with nary a learning curve.

Katy finds her key to success when she begins to engage people experiencing the problems she wants to solve. She uses SurveyGold online survey forms to quickly and affordably collect input from people. The results give her confidence and efficiency in her product design decisions.

Gaining Insight from People in the Market: Key to Product Success

In the final analysis, Katy learns a lesson that inside-out thinking pales in comparison to the outside-in insight gained from engaging people in the market who have real problems.

For the record, I'm a big fan of Pragmatic Marketing. Pragmatic teaches companies how to build and market products people want to buy. (Disclaimer: I'm professionally certified in the fundamentals of the Pragmatic Marketing Framework for market-driven product management. I haven't arrived yet. I'm a work-in-progress, learning every day.) 

One of the key concepts that Pragmatic Marketing teaches product managers is to shift from thinking inside-out to thinking outside-in. An inside-out idea is one that you come up with yourself, in the shower, on the treadmill, or in a meeting room behind closed doors. In contrast, an outside-in idea is an insight that you gain by observing and engaging people with problems in their native habitat.

Katy now fully appreciates the value of gathering insight through the use of online surveys. SurveyGold survey tools provide her with an affordable and efficient means of collecting invaluable market insight. Her story is the essence of why SurveyGold exists.

I am delighted that SurveyGold is contributing to Katy Piotrowski's success and to the success of Career Solutions Group. My thanks to Katy for allowing me to retell her story. Using an outside-in approach increases the likelihood that the final product truly resonates with people in the market.