We were very pleased to discover their approach to developing and building out our brief and delivering additional assets to the project.
The brief
Maths – No Problem!, a family owned publisher offering a teaching maths for mastery programme consisting of a print, digital and CPD offering, is on the brink of becoming one of the biggest disruptors in its space.
As the only provider to be approved for the Government’s Maths Mastery programme (a £41 million Government investment, match funding mastery textbooks for 8,000 Primary Schools), Maths – No Problem! wanted to fully harness this opportunity, whilst maintaining the integrity of its programme. Maths – No Problem! wanted to understand the competitive landscape, what drives schools to choose its programme, what’s working well and understand areas for potential improvement. Although the feedback needed to be from users, it couldn’t be a conventional customer survey as the users are not yet experts in the new maths system; their opinions needed to viewed from a different perspective as Maths – No Problem! drives programmes that will impact the leaders of tomorrow.
Understanding the competitive landscape, what drives schools to choose its programme, what’s working well and understand areas for potential improvement
Twelve tele-depth interviews
Solution
A phased, mixed methodology was designed which complemented the customer immersion work already being undertaken by the organisation. Twelve tele-depth interviews were conducted with maths leads in new and old accounts that covered a range of primary school demographics. While many findings were expected a number threw a curved ball into the understanding of the competitive landscape. The programme progressed to the quantification stage as planned, but upon reflection of the insights its focus was quite different. There followed 147 online interviews were subsequently conducted online.
The outcome
Not only did the programme produce a raft of insights relevant to product development needs, but insights around platform UX, marketing campaigns and customer service were also identified. The results solidified current thinking and took it way beyond the project’s initial objectives; the qualitative stage alone being credited as being more helpful in terms of strategy development than the outputs of a conventional consultant commissioned a little earlier.
Although the use of the insights is in its early stages, Maths No Problem! is already well on the way to smashing renewal and new business targets, and its Net Promotor Score is outstanding. It’s also won the IPG Independent Publishing Award for Education Publisher of the year 2017 and the disquiet among competitors suggests that it’s a disruptor to be reckoned with.
The Maths — No Problem! Primary Series is now the only recommended textbook for schools on the mastery programme.
