We had the privilege of presenting alongside Paul Carney from ClearCut Insights at The MRS – Data Driven Insights Conference in London on July 3rd 2025. He shared how his team successfully leveraged E-Tabs Bureau Professional Services Team to streamline a complex segmentation project, simplifying the process, empowering internal teams, and even making it enjoyable.
ClearCut Insights are a Market Research Consultancy founded in 2024 by two experienced insights professionals, driven by a passion for doing the right thing and doing it right. They help businesses unlock the power of truly understanding their current and future customers, partnering at every stage to deliver targeting strategies that lead to smarter, insight-led decisions.
Their work often involves segmentation studies, research projects that divide audiences into distinct groups based on behaviours, attitudes, or needs. These studies enable businesses to tailor their strategies for more targeted and effective outcomes.
Segmentation Study Stress
As Paul Carney put it, “A segmentation study is supposed to last for a long time, but they’re often really complicated.” Instead of being addressed, they often get shoved to the side and end up gathering dust. Their depth of insight and many layers involved can overwhelm clients, especially if there isn’t a compelling story or clearly defined use cases. Paul explained that, “Clients often feel overwhelmed if either you don’t have a good story, or if you don’t identify very specific use cases or business practices that they can feed into.”
With over 200 segmentation studies under his belt, Paul Carney has always had the goal to cut out as much of the handle cranking as possible so his team can get to ‘the good bits.’ However, with tight timings and limited budgets, it was hard for ClearCut Insights to deliver all this to their clients.
The ClearCut segmentation Challenge:
ClearCut Insights ran two parallel segmentation studies with PZ Cussons who own brands like Carex, Original Source and Imperial Leather. One study in handwashing and one in bathing and showering. Although connected, the studies were distinct enough to require separate segmentation frameworks, both of which needed to be completed simultaneously to support their strategic and brand planning processes. The team needed to find a solution to lift the reporting burden off their shoulders.
“We immediately had to have both of these things in our heads at the same time, which was a lot of mental load for the team to face.”
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs with E-Tabs:
Segmentation Simplified
Paul saw E-Tabs as the perfect solution to his challenge: automating segmentation reporting so he could focus more on storytelling. By removing the manual burden, E-Tabs’ expert automation enabled his team to concentrate on delivering insights. They now rely on The E-Tabs Bureau Service to do the tedious reporting, leaving ClearCut the storytelling. From a single template they manage to automate multiple segments.
Paul Carney shared that E-Tabs Bureau’s flexibility and responsiveness stood out. “A lot of the stuff that they do is complicated in the background, but actually, the way that you interact with them is really, really straightforward.”
“E-Tabs made what used to be a long, manual grind into something intuitive, reliable and ready to use.”
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
Automation – Elevated
Since E-Tabs Automation works seamlessly with existing data tables and PowerPoint decks, ClearCut Insights were able to keep things simple. They automated using the materials already approved by clients. Paul elaborated that, “You can basically just give them what you have and they’ll work with that to automate the entire process.”
With the assured accuracy of E-Tabs Automation, you can trust that your data is reliable and error-free. There’s no need to waste time double-checking figures or stressing over mistakes – the automation ensures everything is consistent, accurate and ready to use with confidence.
“You have confidence that every single number in your deck is going to be right.”
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
Efficiency Maximised
The new efficient workflow enabled rapid responses to targeted questions, like running segment-specific cuts for certain demographics and instantly repopulating reports through automation. As Paul explained, “Let’s say a brand wanted to look at segment one but only amongst men. We could run the data just by that subgroup and understand exactly what’s going on.” What once took two to three weeks could now be done in moments!
This streamlined process meant no more waiting around to get usable outputs. “It really helps make sure that you don’t have that delay at the end of field to get something that you can really understand and really use.” Just as importantly, E-Tabs proved highly adaptable throughout every stage of the project
“They’re very flexible, very good at working with new solutions to make sure we deliver the desired output.”
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
Enhanced Team Collaboration
With the time-consuming analysis and reporting taken care of through automation, ClearCut Insights unlocked the freedom to shift its energy toward foundational insights and deeper brand understanding. “It freed up our team to focus on the fun stuff, focus on value-added stuff.” To shift focus to making the segmentation truly useful for the broader team, they hosted, “Where To Play” and “How to Win” workshops aimed at turning static segments into real strategic thinking.
“You communicate the segments and then decide which ones are right for the brand,” Paul explained. The team used pen portraits uploaded onto Miro and were divided into small groups. Their task was simple but impactful: take the data and reimagine the segments in their own words.
This hands-on approach achieved two key goals. “One, it made it much more fun,” Paul noted. But more importantly, “it really got them to own the segments themselves and use their own language.”
The data interpretation workshop fostered true engagement, transforming complex insights into something memorable, meaningful, and immediately usable.
Renewed Confidence
Beyond speed and efficiency, the process gave everyone- internally and externally, renewed confidence. “We had confidence in what we were presenting. The client had massive confidence in what we presented because they knew this was the process we had gone through.” With that peace of mind, the team could tackle both segmentation projects in parallel, without compromising depth, speed, or impact.
Do You Really Need Automation?
If you’ve ever had to make last-minute changes to a segmentation project, you’ll know the pain. “The problem is what happens then if you realise that the weighting was a bit off, or the client goes, well, it’s not too late to change the segments, or can we look at this by male versus females? Traditionally, that means starting from scratch, you spend another three, four days doing exactly the same thing.” But with The E-Tabs approach, rest assured, that’s no longer the case.
“You spend that investment upfront. Basically, everything after that is almost free… you can use it as much as you like, which is great.“
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
Here to work with you:
At E-Tabs, we are committed to delivering exceptional products and services. To ensure our partners get the most out of our solutions, we provide ongoing support, and offer in-depth training to make your reporting experience as easy as it can be.
“Whenever we would ask, I don’t suppose you can do this… the answer has almost invariably been yes. That can-do attitude enabled instant turnaround times.“
Paul Carney
Director, ClearCut Insights
Watch The Recorded Speaker Session Below:
Click here to find out more about E-Tabs Report Automation!
