Editor’s note: Marie Lemerise is president of The Tapestry Group, a Brooklyn, N.Y., research firm. Erich Rupprecht is principal of Erich Rupprecht Consulting, a South River, N.J., research firm.
Sensitive to the current economic peril, consumers have changed spending priorities, shed brands and entire categories. They are rewriting the value proposition for a host of brands.
Responding to the more disciplined consumer, marketers are reevaluating basic premises and working hard to restructure efforts to engage purchasers and drive brand choice. Only the nimblest marketer will be able to keep pace.
The need for fresh consumer insight has never been greater. More than ever, we in the marketing world are being challenged to gauge the new consumer mindset and uncover relevant insights more efficiently, more cost effectively, smarter.
One qualitative research approach that fills the bill on all three counts (efficiency, cost-effectiveness, doing things smartly) is the concept of team moderating. While many research companies typically follow the one-moderator-per-project model, there are valuable upsides to using a team of specialists for a variety of qualitative projects. Although the authors of this article each own his/her own independent qualitative firm, we have discovered that teaming up with each other as well as other researchers and professionals can provide an array of benefits for both our clients and ourselves.
A team approach can lead to improvements in the richness of learning, in our ability to be responsive to tough marketing challenges and aggressive timing needs.
The specific benefits of a team approach to qualitative research are:
1. More expertise, more insight. The combined experiences of professionals from different disciplines (psychology, anthropology, economics or other social sciences) can deliver distinctive insights on complicated issues. Understanding where consumers are headed, how they view value, what it takes to encourage them to buy your brand - these are questions that benefit from the analytic strength of an interdisciplinary team.
In the current culture of anxiety, a team that includes an ethnographer along with a marketing-savvy qualitative researcher can produce incisive insights, including the language platform and engagement tools for more effective marketing.
And, in many categories, rebuilding the bond of trust with consumers is now a central priority. An interdisciplinary team of specialists can mine both overt and subtle dimensions of trust, to frame a credible way to communicate a brand’s commitment to core principles.
2. Maximize and optimize the research investment. Using multiple professionals on a project can allow for greater creativity and efficiency in terms of structuring the research for optimal learning. The cost-efficient design possibilities include 1) bundling methodologies and 2) simultaneous or tandem-group discussion format.
For some initiatives it is important to gain multiple perspectives on the same topic from distinctly different target audiences: for example, company employees and their managers; vehicle shoppers and dealers; parents and their teenage children; cancer patients and oncologists.
In several cases we have used a bundled design including multiple methods of depth interviews, small groups (triads or quads) and a few ethnographic encounters along with interactive conversations among customers and prospects.
A second approach when two different audiences are important is to conduct simultaneous/tandem focus groups. This involves one audience segment observing a group discussion with a different target segment, such as physicians and patients (not their own). One moderator interviews the patients while a second moderator works with a group of physicians observing the patient discussion from the back room. Immediately following the patient panel, the physicians gather in the interview room for their own focus group, discussing the patient perspective. Such sequential groups can shed insight on conflicting belief systems and how to work toward better alignment. (Of course this can be applied to sales teams/customers and a variety of other provider/recipient audiences.)
These two examples of a layered approach indicate the depth of learning usually unavailable in a standard qualitative design. And the projects described can be more cost-effective than conducting separate initiatives among disparate target segments.
3. Get inside the ecosystem. In this fluid marketplace, it is not enough to hear consumers report behavior; it is imperative to see what’s happening as it unfolds and learn how the consumer defines new choices and actions. Working with a qualitative team clients can step inside the consumer’s ecosystem. A qualitative team together with smart design can break the boundaries of the interview room and the proscribed time limit of an interview discussion.
The expanded capabilities of a qualitative team allow the inclusion of a range of consumer-generated material such as cell phone photos, blogs and digital photo/video diaries. These visual and narrative on-the-spot, in-the-moment materials add depth to the insight-gathering process. The resources of a qualitative team enable rapid analysis to uncover new themes for client action.
On a recent assignment we had consumers generate a variety of visual materials to describe their emotional journey, product experiences and response to new product offerings. Our team included a market researcher trained in Jungian psychology, a former journalist, a sociologist and ethnographer. Together the team analyzed the interviews, video, collages, online activity and photo journals. This resulted in a layered, refined understanding of the target segments, a unifying brand strategy and many ideas for brand engagement programs.
4. Better problem-solving. The good ideas just seem to come faster and in greater numbers when we work in a team than when we work alone. Having qualitative specialists with different bodies of experience increases the number of options available by bringing a broader spectrum of elicitation techniques, an expanded set of analytical tools and a wider array of solutions for knotty strategic problems.
5. Ability to handle larger projects/quicker project turnaround. Sometimes a project’s scope is simply too large or the timing requirements too compressed for a single researcher to handle all the moderating/interviewing/analysis. Having two or more researchers on a project allows for greater coverage (more groups/interviews per day; multiple cities simultaneously), livelier/fresher interviewing and an ability to obtain several perspectives on the research issues.
6. Closer collaboration, better leverage of backroom dynamics. As any qualitative investigator knows, what happens in the back room is as important, if not more so, than what happens in the interview room. Client observers often represent different stakeholder constituencies in the company. Marketing partners from various agencies (advertising, digital, etc.) typically attend as well. Backroom discussion while viewing qualitative fieldwork often reveals emerging issues and different agendas to be addressed. Idea generation typically occurs simultaneously with viewing.
A great way to capture and capitalize on the backroom dynamic is through dual moderating, where one researcher participates from the back room while the other conducts the fieldwork. Having a seasoned professional interacting with clients during the research helps to more efficiently collect backroom brainstorming, frame the learning and provide more timely and focused analysis. In quick-turnaround situations it is sometimes essential to have a backroom partner.
7. Reduction of interviewer bias. Having multiple moderators can help reduce the interviewer effect: the possibility that the research results are being unduly influenced by the moderator and his/her style.
Daunting challenges
In our view, the qualitative team approach provides marketers with an efficient, cost-effective tool to help meet the daunting challenges of today’s tough economic climate and to find possibilities for innovation and growth. The team approach, simply put, means assembling the best combination of moderators/professional partners (from a variety of potential disciplines) to meet the unique needs of each project. In tough times like these, it is crucial to have a “dream team” of committed, creative professionals in your corner.