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When insights fail, it’s usually not because the research was wrong. It’s because the delivery missed the mark.
Every researcher has lived this moment: weeks spent designing the study, fielding the survey, analyzing the data - only to watch the final output get skimmed, forwarded without context, or quietly forgotten. Not because the insights weren’t valuable, but because they weren’t delivered in the right way, to the right audience, at the right time.
In today’s fast-moving organizations, insights don’t just need to be accurate. They need to be usable. And that starts with choosing the right deliverable.
The format you choose, whether it’s a topline, an executive summary, a deep-dive deck, or something entirely new, can be the difference between insights that drive decisions and insights that collect dust. As AI expands what’s possible, brands now have more flexibility than ever to match insight delivery to real business needs.
Let’s break down how to think about deliverables, when to use each one, and why the future of insights is about far more than slides.
Why deliverables matter more than ever
The way organizations consume information has changed. Attention spans are shorter. Stakeholders are busier. Decisions are made faster and often with imperfect information.
At the same time, the volume of research has exploded. Insights teams are producing more than ever, but that doesn’t always translate to more impact.
This is where deliverables become strategic.
A deliverable isn’t just a container for data. It’s an interface between insights and action. It shapes what stakeholders notice, what they remember, and what they do next. Choosing the wrong format can bury a critical insight. Choosing the right one can accelerate alignment, spark discussion, and change direction.
The key is understanding that not every audience - and not every moment - needs the same thing.
Topline insights: When speed Is the priority
Topline insights exist for one primary reason: speed.
They’re ideal when stakeholders need a quick read on what happened, whether something worked, or if there’s a red flag that requires attention. Think early reads on a campaign, pulse checks on sentiment, or rapid feedback on a new idea.
When to use toplines:
- You need to share results quickly
- The audience is already familiar with the context
- The goal is awareness, not deep interpretation
- Decisions are directional rather than final
Toplines work best when they’re focused and disciplined. A handful of key findings, clear visuals, and minimal commentary. The risk with toplines isn’t that they’re too simple. It’s that they try to do too much. When toplines start creeping into analysis or storytelling, they lose the very clarity that makes them useful.
Used well, toplines keep teams informed and aligned without slowing momentum.
Executive summaries: When decisions are on the line
Executive summaries serve a different purpose. They’re not about speed alone. They’re about clarity.
Leaders often don’t need to see every data point. They need to understand what matters, why it matters, and what to do about it. Executive summaries translate research into business language, connecting insights directly to implications and recommendations.
When to use executive summaries:
- The audience is senior leadership
- The research informs a high-stakes decision
- Time is limited, but context is essential
- You need alignment across functions
The strongest executive summaries are opinionated. They don’t just report findings; they synthesize them. They answer the “so what” explicitly and confidently.
This is also where tone matters. Executive summaries should feel decisive, not academic. They should guide the reader through the logic without requiring them to work for it.
Detailed insights decks: When depth drives confidence
There will always be a place for detailed decks.
Deep-dive deliverables are essential when teams need to understand nuance, tradeoffs, and underlying drivers. They’re especially valuable for insights teams, product partners, and anyone responsible for operationalizing the findings.
When to use detailed decks:
- The research is complex or multi-layered
- Stakeholders need to interrogate the data
- The output will inform multiple downstream decisions
- The deck will live on as a reference
The challenge with detailed decks isn’t their length. It’s their usability. Too often, they’re treated as a single artifact meant to serve everyone, which usually means they serve no one particularly well.
The most effective detailed decks are modular. They’re designed so readers can dip into the sections that matter most to them, without losing the thread. Clear sectioning, summaries, and visual hierarchy make depth feel accessible rather than overwhelming.
Matching the deliverable to the moment
One of the biggest mistakes insights teams make is defaulting to a single format.
But insight delivery should be situational. The same study might warrant multiple deliverables: a topline for speed, an executive summary for leadership, and a deep-dive deck for practitioners. Each serves a different job.
The right question isn’t “What’s our standard output?”
It’s “What does this audience need right now to make a better decision?”
That mindset shift turns deliverables from a box-checking exercise into a strategic tool.
How AI Is expanding what’s possible
Historically, deliverable formats were constrained by time and effort. Creating multiple outputs from the same study meant duplicating work, rewriting slides, re-cutting charts, re-explaining context.
AI changes that equation.
With AI, insights teams can now:
- Generate multiple deliverables from a single dataset
- Adapt tone and depth for different audiences
- Experiment with new formats without increasing workload
- Iterate faster as questions evolve
This unlocks creativity.
Instead of forcing every insight into a slide deck, teams can ask: What’s the most effective way to communicate this? Sometimes that’s a one-pager. Sometimes it’s a narrative. Sometimes it’s something entirely new.
Which brings us to Stories.
Stories: When insights need to stick
In the last few years, storytelling has become a buzzword in insights. But Stories as a deliverable are something more specific.
Stories – Suzy’s latest offering – turn research into a range of powerful deliverables designed to be read, not presented. They prioritize narrative flow over slide structure. They pull the reader through a beginning, middle, and end, weaving data into a cohesive arc that feels intuitive and human.
Stories are especially powerful when insights need to persuade, inspire, or reframe thinking.
When to use Stories:
- You’re challenging assumptions or existing beliefs
- The insights require empathy and context
- You want stakeholders to remember the findings
- The output needs to travel organically across teams
Unlike decks, Stories don’t rely on a presenter to provide meaning. The interpretation lives in the narrative itself. That makes them incredibly effective in asynchronous organizations, where insights are consumed on different schedules and shared across channels.
Stories also change how people engage with research. Instead of scanning for charts, readers follow the logic. Instead of jumping to conclusions, they absorb the context. The data feels less like evidence being defended and more like a journey being revealed.
Why Stories work so well
Stories mirror how people naturally process information.
Humans are wired for narrative. We remember sequences, characters, tensions, and resolutions far better than bullet points. When insights are delivered as a story, they tap into that instinct.
This doesn’t mean Stories sacrifice rigor. The data is still there, often more clearly than in a deck. But it’s embedded in explanation rather than stacked on slides.
AI makes Stories even more powerful by reducing the effort required to craft them. What once took days of writing and rewriting can now be generated, refined, and tailored quickly, freeing insights teams to focus on judgment, not formatting.
The future of insight deliverables
Stories aren’t the end state. They’re just one example of how insight delivery is evolving.
As AI continues to mature, we’ll see an expanding universe of deliverable types: formats designed for different moments, audiences, and decisions. More dynamic. More personalized. More embedded into the way teams actually work.
The common thread across all of them is intention.
The brands that get the most value from their insights won’t be the ones that run the most studies. They’ll be the ones that think most carefully about how those insights show up in the organization.
Because in the end, insights only matter if they’re understood.
And they’re only understood if they’re delivered the right way.
Choosing the right deliverable isn’t a final step. It’s the secret to making your insights matter in the first place.
And this is just the beginning.
Learn more about how Stories can take your business to the next level.
