Question

When we reviewed our sales numbers, we learned that we did not meet all our goals _____ area our hard work. We learned, _____ area that customers don’t seem to enjoy our product.
The options you can use to fill in the two blanks are, although, likewise, despite, furthermore, and on account of.

Answer 1

You can fill in the blanks as follows:

"When we reviewed our sales numbers, we learned that we did not meet all our goals **despite** our hard work. We learned, **furthermore**, that customers don’t seem to enjoy our product."

This construction maintains a clear contrast between the effort put in and the results, and it additionally introduces new information about customer satisfaction.