Bureau West

I find conducting qualitative research in multiple countries to be fascinating, but international projects also present some unique challenges.  Here are some tips for the next time you need to conduct global research:

Involve your local research partners.  Don’t assume you can simply copy the research you’re doing in the US and do the exact same thing in the other countries.  Work with your local research partners in each of the countries.  Make sure they know the objectives of the study and share the discussion guide with them early.  Does it make sense to ask the questions that way in their country?  The researchers in each of the countries understand the locals’ mentality as well as the local background.  Encourage them to let you know if something in the discussion guide doesn’t make sense locally.

When it comes to logistics, again, make sure to consult the local research partners.  Are there any holidays that could impact the research?  At what times of day is it best to conduct the research?  If you want to do things differently than local custom, make sure to check if it will present a problem.  For example, when we asked for table tents in England instead of name tags, that was no problem.  But in the Netherlands, when we asked to keep the objectives of the research vague, we got strong pushback, because participants there want to know what they will be discussing in advance of the focus groups.

Plan your itinerary.  Always arrive at least a day before the research, to leave room for flight delays.  And take into account that jet lag might hit you hard: you might find you can’t keep your eyes open in the back room.  I like to take one or two little bottles of 5-Hour Energy with me; when I have one of those moments where I feel like I can’t keep my eyes open, I drink a half-dose, and it works wonders!

If you need to conduct research overseas, we would be happy to help!  Call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

 

Nowadays, clients frequently need answers to their research questions fast.  I mean, really fast.  As in within days.  That’s challenging, but not impossible.  A few days ago, my colleagues and I at ThinkGlobal Qualitative decided we wanted to learn about the current Pokemon Go craze while it’s still new, and we were able to complete research with participants around the world in 48 hours!

How’d we do it?

• We were able to recruit participants quickly because the topic was of interest to them and there were no complicated qualifications to participate: if you play Pokemon Go, we want your opinions.
• Multiple researchers from ThinkGlobal Qualitative around the world were able to pitch in and share the burden of conducting and analyzing the research; and with different time zones, we were basically able to work around the clock.

But not all topics are as popular as Pokemon Go.  How can you nonetheless conduct research fast?  I recently attended a presentation by Janet Standen, who explained how she and her partner Katrina Noelle have accelerated the research timeline at their company Scoot Insights.  Some tips:

• Simplify recruiting requirements as much as possible. Do you really need participants that are “a needle in a haystack” in order to obtain valid insights?
• Consider alternative recruiting approaches, such as in-person intercept recruiting and recruiting that starts with a large online survey
• Have an analyst attend the research, so a report can be completed more quickly
• Have clients assist in the analysis, recording their insights during the research and participating in an interactive debrief immediately after the research is completed

But back to the Pokemon Go research: it was fascinating!  People are getting out of their house and office, walking more, and even making new friends.  And Pokemon Go seems to be a comfort to people during these times of scary events happening around the world.  Read more here.

Do you need to conduct research fast?  Call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

 

Sources: “What’s Behind the Success of Pokemon Go?,” Ilka Kuhagen and Janina Kuhagen, ThinkGlobal Qualitative, 7/17/16; “Agile Research:  ‘Accelerating the Qualitative Route,’” Janet Standen, QRCA So. Cal. Chapter, 4/30/16

You know how you go to a conference and different presentations seem to coalesce and reinforce the same point?  That happened to me last week at the MRA Insights & Strategies Conference.  Thursday started with a great keynote speech from Derek Thompson.  It was about understanding Millennials, but one thing he said made sense for all generations: he made the point that brands are particularly important when customers have little information to help them choose among competing products – the brand reassures them.  But nowadays, customers are frequently inundated with information to help them choose (customer reviews and background information from experts, for example).  So branding alone isn’t enough.

Successful companies need to not only brand themselves, but also ensure that the customer learns about them from all the other information sources.  One way to make that happen is to ensure great customer experience… which just so happened to be the topic of the presentation I gave, “Taking Customer Experience to the Next Level.”  While my presentation focused on the importance of the customer experience approach to company success, in the following time slot, A.J. Drexler gave a great presentation about customer journey planning.  Her main point: companies should go beyond just mapping the journeys different types of customers make to the purchase decision; rather, they should work on ways to improve the customer experience all along those journeys.

The point of addressing the totality of inputs customers receive, including advertising, information gathering, word-of-mouth and actual experience with the brand, was reinforced by a presentation later that day by Caroline Smiley from Delta Air Lines and Catherine Rickwood from MESH The Experience Agency.  Delta is moving from focusing on Share of Voice to looking instead at Share of Experience and is finding that the quality of those experiences can be more important than the frequency of exposure.

When you look at all those presentations together, you could say it boils down to marketing more effectively by gaining a better understanding of the customer’s point of view.  Of course, that’s what good marketing has always done.  But the conference reinforced the point that there are new ways to do that nowadays, including obtaining a deeper understanding of how customers experience a brand and mining that data to improve those experiences.

Let’s find out how your customers experience your brand.  Call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

 

Sources: MRA Insights & Strategies Conference 2016: “Inside the Minds of Millennials and…Plurals,” “How Qual Can Take CX to the Next Level,” “Customer Journey Planning as a Competitive Advantage,” “A New Experience Currency for a Changing Economy: How Share of Experience is Growing Delta Air Lines and Other Brands”

 

I just got back from the Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research in Vienna.  One of the themes that emerged for me was the fact that qualitative researchers are in greater demand today because we can help our clients make sense of the very large amount of data they’re receiving from sources such as website analytics, purchase data, social media, etc.  We are the ones still talking to human beings and putting that data in context for our clients.

Many of the presentations talked about not just conducting research, but at looking for ways to ensure that we truly convey the research findings to our clients.  Human beings (including executives!) all have a tendency to perceive input as agreeing with their preconceived notions.  And executives tend to think their customers’ world is similar to their own.  As Ben Skelton put it: “we need to use qualitative research to get executives to understand their customers’ world is different from theirs.”

Some ways to do that:

• Utilize methods where clients interact directly with their customers, such as co-creation workshops, or serial interviews (“speed-dating” style)

• Look for more immersive ways to report research results, such as video rather than PowerPoint

• Steve August and Shannon Danzy try to determine how their clients prefer to learn, and report results accordingly: they might provide lists for engineers and videos for designers. They’ve even hired a comic artist and turned findings into a comic book (I can’t wait for an opportunity to try that at Bureau West!)

Overall, the conference reinforced my desire to make sure we approach each new research project with fresh eyes and look for the best way to answer the research questions most effectively.  Let’s do that together!  Call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

 

Source: QRCA Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research, April 13-15, 2016