Don't avoid customer feedback

In her article 'Don't tell me what I'm thinking', Heather Lloyd-Martin refers to a couple of case histories - fictional and fact - which involve marketing teams ignoring the views of customers and making assumptions about their target audience.

And she observes, absolutely rightly, that rather than guessing or hoping something will work, the bright thing to do is to take time out to ask the customers themselves what they think - ie, conduct some qualitative research. This doesn't have to be limited to just talking to the customers; it extends to staff, suppliers, opinion formers, industry bodies - really anyone who 's going to have an opinion which is going to be of value in some respect.

All too often consumer research can be seen as a cost rather than an investment, but even a small amount of spend here can make a significant difference to the effectiveness of a marketing campaign (whatever the budget). Business owners or marketers who are very close to their products can inevitably get to the cloth-ears stage and it's very unusual that a bit of objective external input in the form of a few focus groups doesn't shake up the thinking a bit and tweak the direction along tighter lines.

I remember being taught early on that when you start to work on a new product/brand, immediately write down and file your spontaneous thoughts about it. Then ask 2 or 3 more people to do the same, and forget what everyone said for a while. Then when you're completely immersed in the whole thing, go back and look at those first impressions as a form of baseline - ie remind yourself that not everyone has the depth of knowledge and detailed perception that you have, and that that's probably where they'll be coming from when they see your message.

The exciting thing about qualitative research is that it doesn't just tell you what people think, but why they think it and therefore how this might affect their behaviour. A good researcher should guide you to that nugget of understanding, and it's this information that enables a campaign to develop into something that is really going to hit the mark.

Ethical research methods

At a DMA meeting in Edinburgh today the discussion was around creative and ethical direct marketing. A lot of pressure is potentially likely to bear on the direct mail industry because of the (unecessary) volume of paper it is seen to use, and it's a bit of a soft target for governments set on reduction targets given its inevitable association with, in an environmental context, the dreaded word 'waste'. The DM industry is being exhorted to examine ways in which it can be more environmentally conscious, and to view ethical measures in the way it produces mailers as an investment rather than a cost.

It strikes me that a lot of direct mail ends up being waste because it's rubbish even before it's assigned to the bin, which has to be the fault of the agency or whoever has produced it. An obvious envionmental step therefore is to make more use of research to ensure that the material that is being sent out is appealing and appropriate, by investing in some sensible pretesting ahead of the main production run.

Qualitative research is an excellent way to pre-test, and using Mindspace Online it can be done really easily and cost-effectively. Linking up even a small number of potential recipients and getting them to talk you through their thoughts is so, so valuable, and for a very small percentage of your marketing budget can make the difference between success and failure of a campaign.

And on an ethical note, online qualitative research is definitely the most environmentally friendly way you can do it.

The qualitative research buzz

One of the things I enjoy about this job is the flexibility it gives you to work on a wide, wide range of topics and markets. Over the years I've been involved in an incredibly varied schedule of research projects for clients ranging from the fairly ubiquitous categories of health/finance/utilities etc through to some really interesting - if sometimes esoteric - npd ideas (organic progesterone cream, a 'cooling kettle' and home delivery of ready meals among them).

It amazes me that no matter how many times you get called back to do some more work on the same subject, in every focus group or depth interview there are always new things to hear and different opinions to take in. There's the frequent thrill of that little nugget of wisdom from the quiet one in the corner which makes so much sense - and you realise just how valuable consumer opinion is and why what we do is so important.

And what also gets me, without fail, is that buzz of excitement you feel when you crack it, and realise you know the answer to the client's issue. That first flash of insight and inspiration is the researcher's reward every time and it's certainly what keeps - and will continue to keep - my interest and passion in qualitative research as lively as ever.

new generation qualitative research

'new generation qualitative research' is the title of the mindspace website. While I can't claim myself to be exactly new generation (having notched up some 20+ years in market research), the way we are using online at Mindspace to do focus group research is definitely of now and we're definitely one of the first to be doing it.

The market for online focus groups seems to be cautiously gaining momentum, with good reason given the many benefits it offers. I wouldn't say that it replaces face-to-face qualitative research methods, but it definitely gives us another tool in the box and without doubt will soon become an established and sought-after research method.