A bit more personal

Editor’s note: Tina Brogdon is owner and founder of Qualitative Intelligence, a Redington Beach, Fla., research firm.

Clients are increasingly utilizing qualitative market research methods that go beyond traditional focus groups to better understand what really drives and motivates their customers when making purchases and specifically when and why customers select one brand over another. The clients’ end goals: to create a unique marketing campaign that differentiates their brands from the array of competitors within their category, to strengthen brand loyalty and to improve sales.

Many of the non-traditional qualitative techniques are a twist on standard focus groups or in-depth interviews, utilizing a setting other than a focus group facility. The benefit of these techniques for clients is they can offer a more personal experience, including face-to-face time with their customers instead of watching from behind a two-way mirror. This more intimate experience allows clients to see firsthand what their customers experience everyday and the challenges they face in life. The drawback is that these techniques limit the number of clients who can participate in the research. Additionally, they often require more time up front to plan the research and more time in the field to gather the insights.

Dine-arounds and on-site intercepts

In the restaurant industry, for example, dine-arounds and on-site intercepts have emerged as two ways to gain insight into the customer’s experience within the client’s own restaurant as well as the competitive set of restaurants consumers often select from. Dine-arounds often consist of no more than four to five respondents, the moderator and one to two clients. In contrast, intercepts are often one client, the moderator and the customers who are intercepted upon entering the restaurant.

By taking the customer to the restaurants or intercepting them at the restaurant, clients are able to watch the actual experiences unfold live versus listening to a replay of it during a focus group, which might or might not capture all the details accurately. This technique offers a real-time evaluation of the restaurant atmosphere, menu selection, food quality and presentation, staff service, restaurant cleanliness and a multitude of other elements that could easily be overlooked or not brought up during traditional groups.

When doing this type of work it is important to define the research objective to make sure you capture all elements in a noise-filled and active environment. In a study our firm conducted in 2009 the client was looking to: assess the overall presentation and taste appeal of new menu items; understand how and if the wait staff promoted these new entrees/appetizers; and gauge consumer reaction to the new food dishes once served and eaten.

The first part of the research implemented the dine-around methodology with consumers who frequented the restaurant in the past month. These patrons were pre-recruited and asked to meet the moderator for a dinner discussion at a set time. One lesson I learned during this project is that if you are going to the same restaurant multiple times it’s helpful to be sure you are seated in different sections, in order to not make wait staff suspicious that you are “shopping their establishment,” as this may interfere with their normal behavior with patrons. Another way to resolve this issue is to add another person to the interviewing team.

Friendship groups are a great way to learn about issues that many respondents are not comfortable expressing in a focus group setting. Friendship groups give clients insights into how friends and family members influence, interact with and support each other and the impact they have on actual purchases and services utilized. Friendship groups are often conducted at someone’s home, at a coffeehouse or some other social gathering place and continue to gain in popularity as a way to connect with consumers in a more realistic environment. This qualitative methodology is ideal for discussing sensitive or personal topics that might otherwise be embarrassing to cover with a group of 10 strangers.

When conducting friendship groups at home it is important to consider scheduling interviews when interruption by other household members will be limited. If dealing with small children in the household, consider offering more incentive to have a baby-sitter watch the children as the groups are being conducted. Too many interruptions can jeopardize the connection, cohesiveness and desire to be open for all participating.

Increasingly popular

Ethnography and shop-alongs have become increasingly popular within the CPG and retail apparel industries. Observing someone in their own home, coupled with watching them shop at a retailer, is a good way to understand consumers’ behavior. The actions and behaviors consumers exhibit during this type of research are often repetitive - not top-of-mind - or deemed unimportant by the respondents and are often not mentioned when sitting in focus groups. However, by combining observation and in-depth interviewing, clients can glean insights on packaging improvements, product placement on shelves or in departments, alternative product usage, point-of-purchase marketing, brand loyalty and a host of other topics. Combining these two techniques with a synthesis session at the end of the project allows clients to create new ideas that will enhance products currently on the market and/or to create new products that will enhance a consumer’s life.

When considering ethnography here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • First, does your team have experience with home visits? It is a good idea to get some training on what is appropriate etiquette while in a consumer’s home and the roles and responsibilities of each person on the team during the interview.
  • Limit the number of clients visiting a home to make it feel less intrusive to the consumer.
  • When going out for a shop-along, check to see if the state you are going to do it in allows for hidden-camera video. If so, consider letting the participant go in alone and debriefing them on the experience afterwards. If not, keep the in-store team and materials taken into the store limited to avoid drawing the attention of store management.
  • Lastly, don’t pass up the opportunity to debrief after each interview. This is when the insights and discovery are the most memorable and should be captured.

Add richness

When conducting many of these non-traditional research techniques, you can add richness by giving homework to respondents prior to meeting with them or during the course of the research project. Diaries, photographic and usage journals, online blogs and collages are just a few ways to reach into the consumers’ lives even deeper. These tools help fill in pieces of information, emotions and feelings that might not arise during your time with the respondents.

Open their doors

Smaller companies who market to niche consumers are often limited in resources to fund traditional focus group research. Because of these limitations, consumer panels, social media and research among organizational communities can be effective ways to understand the target customers’ needs.

Often, organizations that support specific causes are willing to open their doors to allow for a variety of research to be conducted during their monthly or weekly meetings. During these sessions, product research, packaging, communications and other issues facing the company can be explored among target consumers.

When reaching niche consumers it is important to go beyond the typical recruitment methods. Likewise, reaching niche audiences often requires a more innovative approach. For example, San Diego-based Arico Natural Foods did this when it wanted to launch a “better-for-you” snack. It reached out to a group of university students and asked them to create a YouTube video showing how its products were used. This YouTube contest became the marketing vehicle to launching the new snack and it generated a following among young adults.

A helpful hint when working with organizations is to learn how often their constituents meet. Is it monthly, weekly or some other interval? Plan research far enough in advance so the organization can allot you the amount of time needed to complete your research and not make it a sideline activity. Find the group leader and work through them to organize the research project.

If you are doing taste-tests with the group, bring all the supplies required with you. I have too often been told upon setting up these meetings that they will have napkins, plates, etc., available for my meeting only to find when I arrive at the meeting place that these items are locked up and the person holding the keys isn’t around.

Another thing to keep in mind when tapping into specialty groups is they often score products more favorably because they are excited a company is listening to their special needs. Just because you get a 93 percent overall appeal score doesn’t always translate into acceptance in the broader market. Make sure you benchmark prototype test scores against a successful in-market product.

Getting personal

Although many of these techniques have been available to clients before, they are now being utilized with greater frequency to better understand how consumers relate to products and who or what influences the consumer’s decision to purchase a brand. As their marketplaces grow increasingly competitive, companies are realizing that getting the rich insights they need often requires coming out from behind the mirror and getting personal with their customers.