Lux Insights Inc.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a project manager in the Fish Program at the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We worked with Washington Sea Grant to contract with Lux to get more insights on what concerns and information needs consumers of local seafood have. This work will allow us to tailor our outreach efforts and may also support bigger initiatives around labeling and branding.

How did you select this vendor?

We looked first for vendors on the state master contract list at both WDFW and WSG. We then conducted interviews and Lux impressed us based on the professionalism and experience on projects like this.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The Lux Insights Team set up in-person influencer interviews along with a survey of seafood consumers in Washington, Oregon and California. They then developed a report with key findings and recommendations on how to address some of the themes that came up in the survey around limited product visibility and demand for local, fresh and sustainable seafood products. The team also set up a report out and workshop with some of our partners which was really well received.

What was the team composition?

Our team included three primary leads at Lux Jessye, Nune and Kari and five core team members at WDFW and WSG. Lux did a great job providing weekly updates, steering us towards decisions and making sure we achieved our ambitious timeline for the project.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The workshop facilitated by Lux generated a lot of ideas including the development of videos, social media content and other tactics to highlight when and where to get local seafood, the high quality of frozen seafood and the sustainable and climate friendly practices within West Coast seafood sector. The workshop also identified a need to get organized around branding and labelling of local seafood to increase visibility. Our partners will be working to advance these ideas in the years to come.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was really productive. We met every other week at minimum, sometimes up to weekly and Lux provided regular updates via email as well. The Lux Insights Inc. team is really responsive, professional, and a pleasure to work with.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by the way the Lux Insights team structured the market research, took our ideas and built them into the study design. They listened to the outcomes we were hoping to achieve and designed the survey to achieve those outcomes. I was also really impressed with the recommendations generated by the team on potential next steps and the workshop they facilitated with our partners. The way they structured the workshop was really interactive and got a lot of engagement from the 25 participants.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Our team realized after receiving the report that it would have been helpful to have a factsheet style document vs. a slide deck to share with our partners. The Lux Insights team offered to develop one which is great and will really help us share out the results with those who may not have been involved in the workshop.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the ED of a mid-sized non-profit space and science centre.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We wanted consumer research and data collection as part of our ongoing strategy .

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We contacted several firms to do the research. We decided on LUX based on recommendations from close associates and the content of the proposal submitted.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The idea behind the research was to get a better understanding of the consumer market, what they were looking for in terms of our business, how they felt about us and our products, how they felt about our competition.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a project manager that worked with us regularly. There were three/four other team members that assisted with the research.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The research confirmed what we thought was happening and also confirmed some interesting details about the market in general. This was especially important as related to our product.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They had a strong team and they responded to our inquiries. We mostly corresponded via email and online meetings.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team had experience, and it showed in how they handled our questions and made recommendations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The reports had a great deal of detail but they reviewed with us. They also highlighted significant findings in each category of questions, which was very helpful sharing with our internal team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Chief Marketplace Officer of a growing fintech firm that is creating a new Marketplace for Small to Mid Size Businesses (SMBs) to connect with curated Service Providers.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

Our Marketplace version 1.0 is built and launched. We are encouraged by reaction from initial Marketplace participants. However, we hypothesized that certain components of UX were candidates for refinement, and we needed an objective research firm to test (qualitatively) these hypotheses, as well as other thoughts and reactions from Small to Mid Size Businesses.

How did you select this vendor?

We had been working with a separate, super helpful Marketing Agency, that had the integrity to redirect effort toward Market Research and give a glowing recommendation to use Lux. We trusted that referral, and that trust was reinforced when we met and discussed a potential project with Hanson at Lux - who was immediately impressive, a great listener, and demonstrated quickly an understanding of our company and our requirements.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Lux articulated clearly and undertook a scope to collect data from +- 15 SMB senior execs / Owners / CEOs / Presidents re their reactions and potential use of our Marketplace UX. The end to end effort to plan guide discussion, collect data, and analyze outcomes would be just over a month.

The work was qualitative, and involved a discussion Guide with components that Lux had proven in previous research. Our company contributed actively to refinement of this Guide. The majority of respondents would be identified by Lux within Revenue / Industry sector parameters that we supplied. Several respondents, by design, came from our active SMB Member base.

What was the team composition?

The active team was entirely within Lux, led by Hanson and Carmen plus at least two other associates.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The directional output is fresh - just 3 calendar days ago as I write this in late June 2022. So - cant provide business metrics that changed. Importantly the work yielded multiple key insights, ideas and opportunities to improve our UX. We are well on the way now to thinking thru a "2.0 level". Importantly the feedback blended some acknowledgment and understanding of what we had built at 1.0, with a direct and clear style of what 'needed to" and what "could be" changed for 2.0 improvement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As a former consultant myself (often delivering this type of project) one of the smoothest, clearest workflows I've been part of. No misses. No delays. They had 100% clear and easy communications, decisions, and refinements.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How many projects is there virtually 0% variance between expectation and delivery? How often can I say "we got just what we hoped for." I am pleased.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

There always is - but nothing jumping right out. I sure hope and plan to work with Lux in the future.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Marketing Insights Manager for our internal marketing department at a regional credit union across four states.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We hire Lux Insights every year to preform a market survey to help us evaluate each of the markets we do business in.

How did you select this vendor?

Lux Insights has been a partner with us for many years now. We haven’t been in the vendor selection process for a survey partner for a long time.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Because we been doing this survey with Lux for many years our process requires just a few simple updates each year. Once any updates are made, Lux implements the market survey. The survey asks a range of questions across several dimensions. Once the survey is closed Lux processes the data and provides a detailed analysis of the results.

What was the team composition?

I work directly with a director and a research manager on the survey implementation. The Lux team leads all the heavy lifting.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Because our survey is informational, we not specifically looking for increases in a particular metric. We are however looking for that year over year understanding of where we are in comparison to those around us. Getting that look into the market each year is important overall.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with the Lux team is extremely effective. They know and understand our communication style and plan an efficient schedule that hits the right balance.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very good at providing insights and understanding a large set of survey data.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

None.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Stoke Strategy, a branding and design firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lux Insights Inc.?

We were looking for someone to provide our clients with market research.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use Lux Insights on behalf of our clients to address serious strategic issues and opportunities in the market. They provide us with market research to determine what our customers need and understand their strategic position in the market.

What is the team composition?

I work with the senior leadership team, all the way to the low-level accounting team.

How did you come to work with Lux Insights Inc.?

I’ve been working with them for 15 years because I knew the two owners of the firm prior to starting Lux Insights.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably exceeded over 1 million dollars in fees with them over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2006.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I use Lux Insights exclusively, which is the best testament to the quality of their work — they are far above other research firms.

How did Lux Insights Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Lux Insights always gets the work done beyond expectations. They’re extremely articulate and highly capable of making contextual recommendations and because of that, they’re very easy to put in front of clients and make me look good.

Moreover, they really help clients glean insights and narrow down 15 options for the best possible choice. We typically communicate through JIRA, Slack, phone, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their authenticity and their candor. They’re very genuine and truthful about sharing sensitive information.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The advice I would give to anybody is don’t shop based on price. Stay focused on value and you’ll be amazed at how that will bring you long-term business opportunities. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of AlgaeCal, and we make plant-based calcium supplements to reverse the impact of osteoporosis and build bone density. We’re a global company located in Canada, but 90% of our sales are in the US. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Lux Insights Inc.?

Because we were located in Vancouver while our market is mainly in the US, we didn’t feel we had a good sense of our overall market and consumer. 

We wanted to validate who we thought our customers were, and we needed help with a consumer insight initiative. This would allow us to understand the customer segments we should target to grow our business. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with Lux to understand the calcium supplement market. They created comprehensive surveys, and we sent the surveys through automated emails. After that, they analyzed the findings and presented their insights to our team.  

Lux then made us understand our market’s size, its subsegments, and who we should target. They also advised us how we should be positioning our brand to grow our revenue in the coming five years. The whole project took about four months to finish.

We’re currently doing a pricing elasticity project with Lux. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with three people regularly. 

How did you come to work with Lux Insights Inc.?

They were referred to me by a former colleague. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000 CAD (approximately $117,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018, and it’s ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve launched a campaign specifically targeted towards the new segment, and we’ve seen a 30% increase in business over the last three months. I like working with Lux because they’re good at what they do, and they’re strategic. In addition, I’m able to apply learnings from them pretty much immediately, and those have a positive impact on our business. 

Lux is excellent both in understanding data and providing good insights. They’ve brought my company along in the process, so we understand the data science, survey, and questions behind their work. That’s important for me as a CMO since that gives us complete alignment with their output. I’ve previously worked with other agencies that didn’t have that part of the process. 

We’re currently using Lux’s findings to build our brand book, brand guidelines, and overall positioning.

How did Lux Insights Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Lux is excellent at project management. They’re detailed in terms of communication, and they’re flexible. They’ve kept the project on time. I have nothing but praise to say about their team and performance, and that’s why I’ve used them on several large projects. 

Throughout the process, Lux has been good at engaging with our team. They’re a great partner for us. I like that I have a direct line to their president. Additionally, I’ve already worked with their team on some projects and feel we work well together. We use Slack and Basecamp to collaborate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lux listens to feedback. They do an excellent job of partnering with me to get approval on our projects from our major stakeholders that might not understand the importance of consumer insight. 

Additionally, I like Lux’s size and nimbleness. I can easily choose a much larger consumer insight firm. However, the fact that they’re a small team, yet they’ve taken the time to understand our business has huge implications on the final deliverable. I’ll never use anybody else for my consumer insight needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. They’re an excellent team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your initial scope and needs. Additionally, be very open and transparent about your business. The more you share with them upfront, the more quickly they’ll understand your business and needs. Adjust your approach and scope of work accordingly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Manager of Analysis & Planning for a global consumer product company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We needed a vendor to plan and execute a periodic tracker that measures consumer KPIs for our product brands.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected this vendor based on the team of people we would be working with and their demonstrated understanding of our category and what we were looking for.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After some discovery meetings to align on deliverables the vendor took ownership of everything from research design through to final reporting and strategic insights.

What was the team composition?

I have worked directly with the president and director of research of the vendor while their project team manages the work directly with my consumer insight analyst.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

This work has helped us significantly upgrade our ability to measure the consumer journey across our key product platforms. Our internal executive audience also finds the reporting of these KPIs and insights valuable in understanding performance against organization goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We mostly meet monthly to review results, but the vendor is fine if more regular meetings are needed. There is a healthy and productive line of communication between the vendor and our strategy team. Everything that needs to get done gets done.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am most impressed by their ability to maintain high service levels over a number of years, some of which I attribute to how well they manage and grow their people.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

I think this company & its people, when invited to do so, have the strategic acumen to go further than collection/reporting of data and really bring research to life for the client by providing further consulting around what to do next.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the GM of a member funded society.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We were conducting membership surveys for our 3k+ members.

How did you select this vendor?

Fellow peers across the industry use Lux Insights with positive reviews.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Project was designed to understand satisfaction with the Club overall, as well as specific facilities, programs and services. The insights also informed of motivators, barriers to using the facilities, programs and services, as well as insight into capital expenditures, and other initiatives.

What was the team composition?

I worked closely with the senior executive as well as their team of bright, and knowledgeable individuals.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Presentation to the membership and management team was very clear and concise. We also have the ability for cross tabulation with all of the detail supporting documentation that was also provided to the team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was fantastic and as frequent as we needed it to be.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Communication and the ability to summarize lots of data and convert it into useful information were their core strengths.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

n/a

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CEO and we have our startup company based in Vancouver, Canada.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc., and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop an app for our users (doctors) to receive the health data of their patients in monitoring with wearable devices. We hired Lux Insights as for problems validation interviews and solutions validation interviews. Our goal is to have an effective icloud platform with the app as for monitoring and analyzing the data for supporting doctors in decision making and hence optimizing the healthcare outcome for the patients.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online and also found options being introduced by business incubator. So we chose this vendor based on their past projects, design skills, reputation and cost estimate.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a series of discovery meetings to discuss our goals and objectives. Lux Insights provided us the description of services, description of research, their approach and assumptions, their deliverables, timelines and budget.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A project director and a research manager were assigned to be our points of contact throughout the project.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Detailed description of the results of interviews being held was given. Objective analysis of the outcomes of the interviews was given.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The project director and manager were friendly to communicate and provided frequent updates. We had the kick-off meeting and most of feedback was through email. Everything was delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They understand our business idea and our strategic plan. They knew how to carry out the market validation interviews in a perfect way.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

More measurable outcomes and analytic comments can be added in the conclusion part so that we can understand more detail with the market.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Chief Brand Officer of a software company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lux Insights Inc.?

We needed a baseline and ongoing brand health tracker to assess our product and our competitors as well as overall market drivers.

How did you select Lux Insights Inc.?

I worked with Lux at my previous software company, where they helped me launch and then deliver 4 years worth of excellent brand health insights.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They took the time to really understand the nuances of the business, market, and competitors. Then they recommended the approach for the baseline tracker, and carefully walked us through the survey development, and reporting. Including expert advice on how to set up for the long term, avoid common mistakes, etc.

What was the team composition?

I worked with their leadership team, the account team - stellar client management! - and the research leads.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were able to make strategic positioning and advertising decisions based on the insights.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team is organized - with regular check-ins, agendas, shared documents, and communication channels.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Excellent research skills and approach, great team.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

No - really like them - have hired them a few times and would again.