Bureau West

As you may know, I’m part of an international alliance of researchers, ThinkGlobal Qualitative.  We recently conducted multi-country research with dog owners.  One of the goals was to generate new product ideas.

We utilized a hybrid methodology, starting with a mobile diary, where dog owners in each country answered questions each day on their smartphones over the course of a week.  We then conducted an online bulletin board focus group, where participants could interact with each other.  This combination of methods was particularly effective: the mobile diary increased participants’ awareness of the details of dog ownership and primed them for the group discussion.  The diary, followed by the synergy of the group discussion, led to a large number of new product ideas.

One benefit of conducting the research in multiple countries: we were able to learn from each other.  After we saw some diary responses such as “nothing new to report today,” we came up with the idea of adding a “question of the day” for the U.S. research: each day, in addition to reporting about their interaction with their dogs, participants were also asked to focus on a more general question that helped prepare them for the coming discussion (e.g., best ways to teach your dog something new, biggest challenges of dog ownership).

Are you looking for new ideas?  Please contact us to discuss.

Sources: “Mobile Unleashed: Dogs Go Mobile and Connect Online,” ThinkGlobal Qualitative, 6/5/14; Bureau West research

 

I’ve just arrived back from giving a presentation at the Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research in Budapest.  My presentation discussed ways to recognize when research participants are lying and methods to get past those lies, to understand what they really think.

The conference included many fascinating presentations, including several others that focused on ways to obtain a more accurate understanding of respondents’ thoughts and feelings.  One was given by my friend and colleague Daniel Berkal of The Palmerston Group in Toronto.  He gave a presentation about ways to combine ethnographic methods with focus groups to obtain deeper insights.  We recently combined methods at Bureau West when we conducted shop-along interviews with individual women at supermarkets followed by focus groups with all the women together.  That way, the women were able to talk about their shopping behavior as it happened, and then we also benefitted from the synergy of the group discussion.

Daniel took the approach a step further when he was tasked with learning about alcoholic beverage consumption at night clubs.  He recruited people to come to an evening at the night club to be filmed in reality-show style.  The club was kept open to other customers, though they had to agree to be on film – much like the situation in an actual reality show.  The next day (during the day), the people who had been recruited as research participants came back to the club for focus groups.  Placing them back in the same location helped them remember more detail about their experience.  In addition, Daniel and his colleagues played video of the previous evening to obtain more detailed reactions.

This type of approach, combining immersive research with a retrospective method such as focus groups, provides clients with more insights on ways to connect with customers and ways to more effectively promote their products.

Looking for ways to get inside your customers’ heads?  Please call us at 818-752-7210 to discuss.

Sources: “Breaking Down the Glass – Incorporating Immersive Ethnography with Conventional Techniques to Create Deeper Understanding,” Daniel Berkal, Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research, 5/1/14; Bureau West research

 

A continuing care retirement community felt it needed to fix a broken business model, expand the scope of its non-traditional support and off-campus services, and modernize its image to stay current with trends in marketing to seniors.

An all-day brand workshop was conducted; the management team dug deep to identify what should stay and what needed to be fixed.  The session revealed significant agreement on core values, but several serious divides as to how the community could evolve as a business going forward.   One area of disagreement: to what extent would the community’s religious affiliation impede its ability to reach new secular prospects?

Research was conducted to test the assumptions generated during the brand workshop.  Many of the concerns were debunked.  For example, most prospects felt that, if the religious aspect were not ‘front and center,’ it would not have a negative impact.  In fact, the faith-based affiliation was viewed by some as a positive – being a non-profit made the community more desirable and reliable.

Based on the research as well as the core values garnered from the brand workshop, a new business model, brand architecture and brand identity were developed.  The focus of the community’s marketing strategy shifted from being print-heavy to one primarily driven online by a comprehensive website that integrated 4 business units under one single portal, the introduction of e-marketing, resident populated blogs, and other social media tactics.

What started with one brand workshop led to a new, contemporized and highly relevant brand. In only 18 months since its launch, the community has expanded from one market serving 925 people to three markets serving over 2000 with campus and community-based residential, support and enrichment services.  A success story indeed!

Can a brand workshop benefit your company?  Give us a call at 818-752-7210 to discuss.

 

“Omni-channel marketing” refers to marketing to customers through all the different channels by which they might engage with your brand.  The concept has become more important in recent years, since customers now have many different ways to learn about a product: in addition to more traditional channels such as viewing an advertiser’s TV commercial or their website, today’s customers might be searching online for advice about what to buy, or checking on social media, or reading reviews about a product on their smart phones while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, or using an app to compare prices… and the list goes on.

In our research, we have found two major motivators for customers to use multiple channels: making the shopping process easier and finding the best price.  How do we best cater to those needs?  By making sure we’re there with relevant information and offers when the customer wants them.  For example, when they walk into your store.  While customers value their privacy, we have found they’re quite interested in receiving this kind of information if it will save them time or money and as long as they’ve given their permission.

My friend Scott Holmes, president of interactive agency United Future, calls it “At-the-Ready Marketing.”  In a recent article, he recommended a variety of tactics, including:

• Encouraging positive online reviews, and providing imagery and content that are easily shareable on social media
• Offering proximity-based digital coupons
• Rewarding loyalty with special perks that make shopping even easier

To learn how to most effectively market to your customers, give us a call at (818) 752-7210.

Sources: , Bureau West research; “Rethinking Retail,” Infosys, 1/14/14; “5 ‘At-the-Ready’ Mobile Retail Marketing Strategies – Getting Close and Personal,” iMediaConnection, 1/18/14