FeltonBuford Partners

FeltonBuford Partners Insight and Strategy Partner Uncovering Growth Opportunities Through the Power of Clarity

The consumer banking landscape is evolving rapidly. From digital wallets to real-time settlement and shifting expectatio...
03/25/2026

The consumer banking landscape is evolving rapidly.

From digital wallets to real-time settlement and shifting expectations around trust, banks are navigating major shifts in how money moves and how customers experience it.

We’ve noticed that banks and other areas of financial services aren’t just experimenting with new technology. They’re embedding it into everyday operations. Modernizing digital channels, integrating AI, and strengthening data infrastructure are becoming baseline expectations, not optional experiments. The implications go beyond banking, and we’re paying close attention.

We’re looking forward to exchanging additional perspectives and exploring the future of banking at CBA Live (Consumer Bankers Association) in just a few days! If you’re attending, we would love to connect and hear how your organization is thinking about these shifts.

03/18/2026

We often see marketing strategies start with, “This generation of consumers believes…” But that kind of statement assumes millions of individuals share a single perspective.

For most brands and products, your audience is not an entire generation, and treating them as one can overlook how significant numbers of individual people actually make decisions.

It’s like saying, “Gen Z loves pineapple on pizza.” Some do, some don’t—and building a strategy on that alone risks missing nuance that matters to your customer.

Labels and trends, whether generational or otherwise, can point you in a direction, but they rarely explain why individual people or subgroups make decisions.

Brands that want to connect on a deeper level can benefit from going further. Qualitative research is an excellent way to uncover this depth.

This shifts the objective from “understanding” a generation to truly understanding the specific people you serve.

03/11/2026

Much of the conversation around GLP-1s assumes indulgence categories will shrink. However, recent commentary from the Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli suggests the story may be more nuanced.

The company found that households using GLP-1 medications are actually over-indexing in chocolate purchases, particularly in premium segments. At first it feels counterintuitive, but it highlights a key behavioral shift: when overall consumption declines, indulgence doesn’t necessarily disappear. It may just become more intentional.

So, what does this mean for brands watching the GLP-1 conversation unfold? The question may not be as simple as “Will people stop buying?”

It’s also:
-How does the role of indulgence change for GLP-1 consumers?
-What does a “worth it” moment look like when consumption becomes more deliberate?
-How should products, portions, and positioning evolve to meet that shift?

As GLP-1 adoption grows, the bigger risk for brands may not be declining consumption, but misunderstanding how indulgence is being redefined. It’s important to dig deeper.

As much as we think about quant as “scale,” there’s a ceiling. Not because it’s flawed, but because it generally only an...
03/05/2026

As much as we think about quant as “scale,” there’s a ceiling. Not because it’s flawed, but because it generally only answers the questions you know to ask.

Quant is structured. It is designed to measure what’s defined. It validates what’s hypothesized. It tells you how often, how much, how many. But it seldom reveals what you didn’t know to look for.

Qualitative research does something different. It can reveal what you did not know that you did not know. It allows tensions to surface and questions to evolve. It exposes assumptions. It reframes problems. It reveals the “thing behind the thing.”

You get answers to the questions you ask unless you create space for new ones to emerge.

We’ve been exploring the idea of researchers as respondents in specific early-stage scenarios. Conventionally, market re...
03/03/2026

We’ve been exploring the idea of researchers as respondents in specific early-stage scenarios.

Conventionally, market research professionals are excluded as participants. We challenged that assumption in a recent healthcare pilot by interviewing MR professionals who were also patients and caregivers — not as representative patients, but as expert respondents.

What emerged wasn’t stronger emotion or more representative lived experience, but something different: a clearer diagnosis of system-level successes and breakdowns. This approach helped surface dynamics early and sharpen where formal patient research should focus.

It doesn’t replace patient voice, but it can strengthen the path to it.

To learn more about our perspective, the pilot, and what we uncovered, explore our latest blog post: https://feltonbuford.com/blog-2/

Is there a case for researchers as respondents in specific scenarios?In most qualitative research, market research profe...
02/18/2026

Is there a case for researchers as respondents in specific scenarios?

In most qualitative research, market research professionals are intentionally excluded as participants. The rationale is familiar and well-intentioned: researchers bring bias, methodological awareness, and an analytic lens that could distort “authentic” experience.

That logic makes sense when the goal is representation. But in exploratory healthcare research, where the goal is to understand systems, this convention may be costing us insight.

Healthcare is uniquely complex. The stakes are high. Systems are opaque. Power asymmetry is extreme. Fragmentation is normalized. And the distance between experience and explanation is wide. Breakdowns are often felt emotionally but are difficult to articulate structurally.

Which raises a question worth discussing:
When exploratory work is meant to help us see the system clearly enough to ask better questions next, should certain forms of expertise really be excluded by default?

This isn’t about replacing patient research. It’s about strengthening it by raising the altitude of exploratory work before hypotheses harden and solutions scale.

In a recent pilot, we tested this approach using researchers as respondents and uncovered some illuminating insights about both the strengths and breakdowns in healthcare systems.

Curious how others think about this reconsideration. Where do you land?

Our love language? Actionable insights. We truly love what we do. We took a moment to reflect on what keeps us curious, ...
02/11/2026

Our love language? Actionable insights.

We truly love what we do. We took a moment to reflect on what keeps us curious, energized, and passionate about research. Check it out below — and please weigh in with your take!

02/04/2026

“We want a hybrid approach.”

We’re hearing this a lot. We love a mixed-methods approach, but it’s a bit like saying, “I’m hungry.” Do you want a salad, a smoothie, or a two-course meal?

They’re all delicious. They all solve hunger. But they serve different needs depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.

The value of hybrid research is in choosing the right combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches for the question you’re trying to answer.

Sometimes qual and quant run in parallel, each doing distinct work (the salad).
Sometimes they’re fully integrated (the smoothie).
Other times, exploratory qual comes first, followed by quant to scale and validate (the two-course meal).

The difference isn’t preference. It’s purpose. And clarity on that purpose is what turns “hybrid” from a buzzword into a real advantage.

Please join us in welcoming Meaghan Willis to the FeltonBuford team.Meaghan is a senior qualitative research strategist ...
01/28/2026

Please join us in welcoming Meaghan Willis to the FeltonBuford team.

Meaghan is a senior qualitative research strategist with nearly 20 years of experience partnering with category leaders and globally recognized brands to shape how insight informs business strategy. She brings deep expertise across healthcare, financial services/fintech, CPG/retail, luxury, automotive, and beyond, working with audiences ranging from B2B and HNW to Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Known for her highly collaborative approach and deep strength in mixed methodologies, Meaghan helps teams push beyond traditional research models and deliver insight that is rigorous, relevant, and actionable in fast-moving markets.

We’re excited to have her perspective, partnership, and thinking on the team. Keep an eye out for more from her soon!

01/21/2026

Is the marketing funnel dead?

Not exactly. But it has certainly become more complex, and our strategies need to keep up.

Today’s consumer doesn’t move in a straight line. They research, pause, ask peers, return through different channels, and make choices inside systems shaped by emotion, friction, and context.

When behavior changes, strategy has to change too. Some resources can get you part of the way toward understanding your consumer at a deeper level, but the only way to remove guesswork is to go to the source: conduct qualitative research directly with your consumer.

Insight fuels effective strategies, and strategy guides action.

Segmentation sometimes ends with demographic sorting. Demographics (age, income, life stage, etc.) are an important star...
01/14/2026

Segmentation sometimes ends with demographic sorting. Demographics (age, income, life stage, etc.) are an important starting point, but stopping there can be risky.

In healthcare and financial services, for example, people don’t make decisions based solely on demographic identity. They decide within complex systems of personal perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, values, and past experiences.

We can’t always capture every factor, but studying the most relevant ones through attitudinal and/or behavioral research can uncover massive new insights about our audiences. This depth of understanding, usually drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, requires commitment, yet the payoff is enormous: more precise targeting, more relevant products, and more compelling communications.

Starting the year very grateful! We’re lucky to work with clients who appreciate the craft behind thoughtful, actionable...
01/07/2026

Starting the year very grateful! We’re lucky to work with clients who appreciate the craft behind thoughtful, actionable research.

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