In-depth interviews allow marketers to understand their customer’s buying process in a whole new way

I’ll never forget meeting Amy and Mark.  Like most young engaged couples, they are eager to share the details of their upcoming wedding.  They dream of a beach wedding, which they will hold in Key West rather than Cabo for the convenience of their friends and family.  “It is the most beautiful venue.  We will be getting married on their terrace overlooking the Gulf of Mexico,” Amy says.

But while the couple will wed in a casual beach town – with Mark happily clad in linen pants and sandals – the couple still wants traditional elements in their wedding.  “I’ve decided to go with the traditional wedding dress,” Amy says.  And like their wedding, Amy’s engagement ring is a blend of the traditional and the modern.  “I really liked the design, and it looks antique or vintage, but it’s not,” says Amy.  “It’s a brand new piece.”

Amy and Mark are not personal friends of mine.  They are a couple I met through a filmed interview conducted by Jo Anne De Vargas and her Filmed Research group.  The interview was recorded in the couple’s home to gain in-depth insights into consumer behavior.  And because we captured this interview on video, I can share Amy and Mark’s journey to the altar – with all the plans and purchases that entails – with the marketers who most want to understand them.  You can meet them too here: http://filmedresearch.com/luxury/

Data Are the Facts; Video Brings Personal Understanding

Quantitative surveys have always been the backbone of marketing research, and I don’t think that will change.  It is important to understand overall trends and statistics about consumer behavior, and quantitative data captures that.

However, no customer can be adequately described through percentages and averages.  Take Amy as an example.  A wedding planner, dress maker, or hotel might look at data on destination weddings and assume that a bride who chooses a beachfront location, as Amy has done, is looking for a casual, informal affair.  They would miss the nuance that Amy still wants her fairy tale wedding gown and loves her vintage-look engagement ring.

Marketers certainly must look at the data to learn about their customers.  But to understand Amy, they have to meet her.

In-Depth Interviews Go a Step Beyond Focus Groups

Qualitative research helps you get a deeper, closer, more personal understanding of the customer: what motivates them, what they value, what really makes a difference to them.  A traditional approach for qualitative research is focus groups, and while they offer many upsides, they also have downsides.   Specifically, they take the customer out of his or her personal realm and into an unnatural setting where they may posture more and act unnaturally. 

For example, I often warn clients about the ‘halo’ effect you sometimes see in groups where people who come in and are paid for their attendance feel the need to say good things about whatever you are discussing, so they hold back any real reservations or concerns that the client needs to really understand.  Plus in focus groups you are always dealing with a group dynamic and thus constrained how deeply you can delve into one subject’s perspective. 

But IDIs (in-depth interviews) conducted in the customer’s own home or personal environment overcome those challenges and capture the research subject where they feel most comfortable. At home, we can observe and probe behaviors, possessions and passions that might otherwise be unknown, or overly embellished. This approach gives us the chance to gain more insights, more revelation, more truth.  Plus – and this is a very big plus for clients that need to share the consumer insights – if interviews are filmed, portions of the video that can be incorporated into a presentation.  There is nothing more memorable and powerful than customers showing and telling your story in their own words.

Take Action>> Put Power of In-Depth Interviews Recorded on Video to Work

“You’ve got to shoot it to share it”  — Jo Anne De Vargas, Filmed Research group

I am pleased to be working with Jo Anne De Vargas and her team of skilled researchers and videographers to help my clients gain deeper more actionable customer insights by conducting studies of affluent consumer’s living their every lives.   Depending upon your needs, customers can be studied in their home, at or on their way to work, while they shop, while they dine or check into a hotel, or when they are relaxing and having fun.  Think of the powerful insights that can arise when you study consumers ‘in situ,’ not in an artificial research setting. 

And these days, few respondents are shy in front of a video camera, though a crowd of observers in their home feels awkward.   The average American household video records EVERYTHING (kids, weddings, pets, you name it).  Yet, in business, and especially in market research, video is perceived as a dispensable “luxury” that may not fit into the project budget.  More often than not, professional research video is actually a cost savings over the cost of traveling to observe.  Furthermore, when edited down to key insights, video provides content and context that can be appreciated in a spare few minutes via the web.

Of course the moral is, to share findings and capitalize on the BIG THOUGHTS you have to take the first step and put video-recorded IDIs into your research plan.  Or as Jo Anne says, “You’ve got to shoot it to share it!”

For a peek into the life and point of view of Amy and Mark and other luxury customers, click on this link:  http://filmedresearch.com/luxury/

 I am excited about bringing the power of video to luxury marketers by partnering with Filmed Research group, qualitative research supplier specializing in delivering findings supported by high def edited video.  Their knack for bonding with respondents and discreetly shooting uncovers deep insights.  Their proprietary approach to editing quickly creates Voice of the Customer Video that is memorable and easy to share with your staff, management, agency and buyers.

If you’d like to learn more about putting the power of video to work for your business needs, you can call me at Unity Marketing or reach out to Jo Anne De Vargus, FRg directly at 262.595.0091 or  jo@filmedresearch.com

Tags: Destination weddings, IDI, In-depth inverviews, Qualitative market research, videos, Weddings

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