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OCAD U CO
Customer Insights

Understanding your customer’s needs, motivations & behaviours is crucial to realizing lasting business success.

Our Customer Insights program equips businesses and teams with the skills to cultivate customer empathy, uncover valuable insights and generate concrete outcomes to improve their products and services. 

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The program is designed to give participants the knowledge and know-how to take a human-centred approach to user research in order to develop impactful and resonant value propositions that align with customer needs, motivations and behaviours. 

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In addition to providing comprehensive training in user research techniques and value proposition development, our Customer Insights program stands out for its innovative peer learning component. Through collaborative exercises and discussions, participants learn from expert instructors and benefit from their peers' diverse perspectives and experiences, enriching their understanding and fostering a dynamic learning environment.

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The program is funded by NRC-IRAP and primarily offered to their portfolio companies across Canada.

Program Components

  • Identify research objectives
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  • Interview 4 – 6 real users
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  • Create user personas
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  • Design user journey map
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  • Uncover insights into the pain points, needs, and desires of users
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  • Develop value propositions for how to better serve customers
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  • Design an implementation plan to test hypotheses coming out of the research

A group of people working on a white board with sticky notes.
A woman writing in front of a computer.

Program Structure

The Customer Insights Program is 9 weeks long. Each week involves: ​​
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  • 2-hour virtual, synchronous participatory sessions to learn new tools and methods
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  • 1:1 weekly check-ins with the program instructor
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  • Approximately 3 hours of independent work per week including conducting interviews, analyzing responses, and developing insights
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Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be issued a Certificate of Completion.

Who should apply?

Are you struggling to understand what your customers really want?​

Are you looking to build your individual and team capabilities in user research, value proposition design and product positioning?

Do you have capacity to commit to the synchronous and asynchronous requirements of the program?

INVESTMENT
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The Customer Insights program offers more than 20 hours of instructor time over the course of 9 weeks. The expectation is that companies invest 5-6 hours per week, split between ‘live’ virtual sessions and independent work.

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For IRAP clients, the cost of the program is covered by IRAP. Accepted applicants will only be required to cover a $500 admin fee.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must meet the following criteria to be considered for this service:

  • Minimum of one full-time employee receiving a T4,

  • Less than 500 employees,

  • The firm is operating in Canada and has a CRA Business Number,

  • The firm has demonstrated a desire to grow and generate profits,

  • The firm meets IRAP program eligibility criteria.

Interested?

The Customer Insights Program has limited capacity. All interested companies must submit an application in order to be considered for participation.

Still have questions? Contact us.

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