13 October 2026

Do I need an Insight Community?

Charlotte Moody
Charlotte Moody
Managing Director

Table of Contents

Do I need an Insight Community?

Arguably, every brand needs an Insight Community.

In the latest STRAT7 Researchbods Insight Community Buyers survey (2025), 66% of Community buyers listed ‘improving customer closeness / customer centricity’ as one of the key benefits of Insight Communities.

And we would agree. An Insight Community gives you the power to act, not just react. No more guesswork. Just fast, informed decisions grounded in real insight.

Insight Communities allow brands to get closer to customers and learn more about them in a fast, agile, and cost-efficient way that integrates with wider business data whilst remaining flexible.

Whether you’re refining products, strengthening brand strategy, or navigating market movements, an Insight Community can help your brand to stay ahead by staying close to your customers and adapting to change.

Seven buyer tensions that can be addressed via an Insight Community

We need to understand our customers better

Brands want to be best buddies with their customers. They talk about “putting customers at the heart of everything we do” yet often fall short. Insight Communities make it much easier to embed your customers and prospects into your plans. In short, Insight Communities facilitate customer closeness.

We need answers, fast

Insight Communities are agile. They are always-on, allowing for real-time consultation without project set-up. Even better, an Insight Community will also alert you to issues before you’re aware of them.

We need to make better decisions, with confidence

An Insight Community allows you to get useful responses from profiled Members and turn questions into answers and answers into strategy. In hours not days. Spend more time analysing and less time managing, so that you can make better business decisions, at speed.

We need a cost-effective research solution

Streamline your roster of research suppliers. Cut down the need for individual project pitches and tenders. Save time managing projects. Insight Communities are most effective when used on a long-term or ongoing basis.

We need insight to integrate with data

The first generation of Insight Communities were often their own little bubble, with limited ability to incorporate wider data. This is no longer the case. A modern Insight Community is designed to be part of a greater data lake, and can integrate CRM, ERP and third-party data, making them a greater strategic asset.

We need a short-term solution right now

Insight Communities are flexible and can adapt to the size and needs of any brand wishing to use one. Short-term plug-and-pay communities are becoming as common as the highly managed long-term versions, and both fit a particular set of business and knowledge needs.

We need real, human insight

This is going to sound a little obvious, but the most important reason to use an Insight Community is… the insight. If you want real, unfiltered customer views and opinions. If you want genuine customer knowledge. Then you need a platform to engage and capture it on a regular basis.

About the author

Charlotte Moody is Managing Director at STRAT7 Researchbods, where she leads tech-enabled customer research and AI-driven insight strategy for global consumer brands, across the Insight Community and Custom Insight Divisions.

Get in touch to find out more

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