3 Minutes 
How BMO Implemented Custom, Repeatable Research Methods to Democratize Data and Share Consumer Insights Across the Organization
The Challenge
BMO is one of the top banks in North America, and this means it runs a lot of campaigns at a fast pace. Its marketing team places a strong focus on being customer advocates and in tune with customer needs and preferences. And with that, it recognizes the importance of maintaining objective, customer-centric thinking in marketing decisions. However, the marketing department was seeing some inefficiencies in its research approach, with some teams unaware of what tools were available, when to use them or how to use them. BMO needed a solution that would standardize the research approach across teams, with common/repeatable survey tools readily available for quick and efficient use. It also needed to make sure there was cross-team transparency, so every marketer knew when and how to use the survey tools available to them.
Our Solution
BMO turned to Methodify, Sago’s automated quantitative research engine, to help. BMO went through Methodify’s onboarding process, which began with BMO conducting an internal audit to uncover what research its teams use, how often, and at what points teams wished they had more data to support their decisions.
From there, BMO worked with Methodify to determine the key opportunities for automated quantitative research and standard approaches (aligned to specific stages of the campaign development process). These turn-key repeatable methods were implemented on the Methodify platform for use at those critical points in the campaign development process.
Preparing these research tests in isolation wasn’t going to fully solve the problem. BMO also partnered closely with Sago to put together comprehensive training that was delivered across marketing, to ensure everyone was aware of and understood the tools available to them.
Result
Three BMO-specific automated methods were rolled out on Methodify, covering approximately 80 percent of the team’s research needs for campaign development. For the other 20 percent, BMO continues to work with Sago to design custom methods as new needs arise. This two-prong approach assisted in democratizing access to the means of testing throughout the process to all marketing team members – over 60 of which have been onboarded and trained. Each team member is now able to set up their own marketing tests and get results back in a matter of days instead of weeks. Methodify continues to onboard new marketing team members as they join, and will be continuing to integrate new technologies for them to use.
