#8 The Key to Closing Performance Gaps: Quantitative Indicators and Qualitative Insights

When optimizing business performance, numbers often steal the show. And here’s the thing. They should. But to really understand what’s happening, you have to dig deeper. The most important insights aren’t captured in spreadsheets.

Last week, my Ambition colleagues and I organized after-work events in Gothenburg and Malmö focusing on Journey Management. Josefin Johansson (Polestar) and my colleagues Nathalie Tindsjö and Charlotta (Lotta) Agvard shared their experiences from projects at Polestar, Volvo Cars, and Ambition. At the Malmö event, one of our guests, looking at the lifetime journey we showed as an example, raised a question:

– With all this focus on quantitative data, isn't there a risk that we forget the importance of qualitative research?

It's a valid concern. In our data-driven world, it's easy to get lost in the numbers. But here's the thing – it's not an either/or situation. It's about finding the perfect harmony between the two. And just as my colleague Nathalie pointed out in her answer to the question, it's actually the other way around.

The lifetime journeys we typically create in these situations can be described as contextualized dashboards with key performance indicators for each step. The indicators are typically presented together with their target, and when the current results deviate from the target, we call that a performance gap.

Once performance gaps are identified, qualitative research becomes essential in understanding the root causes and developing effective solutions. Observational studies, interviews, focus groups, and surveys provide rich, contextual information that can help us understand the "why" behind the numbers, and this is the key to uncovering new opportunities, making informed decisions, and implementing the right improvements.

For example, if customer churn rates are increasing, quantitative data might highlight the problem, but qualitative research will uncover the reasons behind it. Are customers dissatisfied with a particular feature? Is the onboarding process confusing? Are competitors offering something your product lacks? Only thorough qualitative investigations can provide these vital insights.

Moreover, qualitative methods are essential in developing and testing solutions to close performance gaps. They allow you to gather feedback on proposed changes, understand user behavior in detail, and iterate on your solutions based on real-world input. This human-centered approach ensures that your efforts to improve performance are grounded in the actual needs and experiences of your stakeholders.

So, while quantitative metrics provide a crucial foundation for performance management, utilizing qualitative insights and research methods is essential to understanding your business. By leveraging both approaches, you can not only identify performance gaps more effectively but also develop more targeted, impactful solutions to close them.

Numbers tell you where to look, but qualitative insights reveal what you're really seeing—and how to act on it.