Primary Qualitative Market Research Methods

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Primary Qualitative Market Research Methods

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Gathering Information

• Primary Research
• Internal Primary Research
• External Primary Research
• Secondary Data Collection
• Internal Sources
• External Private Sources
• External Government Sources

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Primary Market Research

• Creates data through interviews and other direct
  feedback mechanisms
• Addresses the specific technology and information
  needs
• Relies on the skill of the interviewer or
  questionnaire design
• Delivers real-time feedback to the researcher

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Listen to the Voice of the Customer

• Understand what is really important
• Understand customer motivations
• Understand the buying cycle and how decisions are
  made
• Provide a sanity check to the internal
  perceptions of the technology

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Getting Feedback on Benefits

• Expected level of quality of the product
• Linear performance quality - the more the better
• Exciter qualities can be the real sellers
• may not be the obvious ones to the technology
  developer
• may become expected qualities over time

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Research Stages

• Project definition
• Project execution
• Project analysis
• Project results dissemination

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Project Definition

• Understand the internal dynamics of the
  stakeholders
• Understand the goal of the research
• Understand what decision is being made
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the
  company
• Understand the commercialization options

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Project Definition and Research Goals Exercise
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Internal Primary Sources

• Interview the inventor
• Brainstorm with other internal technical experts
• Brainstorm with the sales staff that have direct
  interaction with customers
• Beta test the technology with internal customers

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Internal Primary Research

• Benefits
• Interviewees have a keen understanding of the
  technology and its possibilities
• Research is fast and inexpensive
• Researcher gains an understanding of how the
  technology fits into the internal goals and
  product mix
• Drawbacks
• Can be myopic and rely on unfounded market
  assumptions

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External Primary Sources

• Collecting data directly from the marketplace
  through
• Phone Surveys
• Mail Surveys
• E-mail and Newsgroups
• Focus Groups
• In-depth Customer Interviews

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In-Depth Interview Advantages

• Provides background data on the marketplace
• Answers specific questions
• Ensures the right experts are contacted
• Examines corporate buying behavior
• Identifies industry trends

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In-Depth Interview Advantages

• Follows a theme with one respondent from
  beginning to end
• Has a flexible structure that can be modified as
  learning occurs
• Topics can be expanded upon
• Identifies other industry players to contact

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Goals of In-Depth Interviewing

• Use open ended questions and conversations to
  uncover
• perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes
• Understand the motivating buying factors
• Qualitative data that informs the quantitative
  research

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Interviewer Qualities

• Good interviewing skills
• good listening, clear communication
• An eye for detail without getting lost in the
  trees
• Ability to appear genuinely interested
• Interest in the subject and the interview results

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Learn the Customers Language

• Never assume you know what they are talking about
• Question every nebulous term
• Dont be afraid of asking the obvious
• They are the experts, acknowledge that and use it
  to your advantage

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Types of Responders

• Yeasayers - only tell you the good
• Ask them to pin down why it is good
• What would a benefit mean to them?
• Naysayers - only tell you the bad
• Ask why a benefit or feature is not important
• Ask for suggestions on how to make it better
• Use them to identify barriers and improvements to
  the technology

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Telephone Interviewing

• It can be the right tool when
• interviewing busy executives
• your interview population is geographically
  dispersed
• interviewing people for their knowledge
• speed is important
• Lets you hear the voice of the customer

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Internet Primary Research

• Use newsgroups to gather responses to specific
  questions
• Use newsgroups to identify industry experts that
  can be interviewed
• Send targeted e-mail questions to contacts, do
  not SPAM
• Newsgroup research works best when researching
  information technologies

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Primary Market Research Tips

• Techniques to get responses
• Emphasize benefit to responders of their input
• Know who you want to talk to
• Offer pre-market use of the technology
• Offer beneficial items for responding
• Allow time for the research to be done
• Conversations are good

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External Primary Market Research

• Benefits
• Tailored to company needs
• Real time feedback
• Answers specific questions
• Feedback on specific products/services
• Drawbacks
• Can be expensive and time consuming
• Strategy/product direction may be publicized