In this age of quantum computing, social listening, and meta-data, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking you know your audience just by looking at the numbers. However, taking the time to check in with real customers or consumers is still essential, even if you have more data than you know what to do with. Speaking to your audience directly will decrease the likelihood of your organization making incorrect assumptions and critical errors about product changes, positioning, or messaging that will lead you down the wrong path.
It’s far too easy to collect data, analyze key metrics, and make hypotheses based on your assumptions about those metrics. However, unless your hypotheses are confirmed, you can’t know for sure whether they’ll yield the results you’re after. Without qualitative data to tell the full story, you run the risk of alienating current or potential customers and failing to fully maximize your return on investment.
Make Better Business Decisions with Qualitative Data
Understand The Nuances of Customer Behavior
Buyer decision-making is rarely black and white. Qualitative data reveals the often-overlooked emotional and psychological aspects of customer behavior that go beyond sales figures. Direct engagement of your customers helps to uncover the motivations, pain points, and preferences that numbers alone can’t articulate. With this information, you can connect with your customers on a deeper level by tailoring your products or messaging to more directly fulfill their needs.
While social media listening might uncover some of these issues, those who leave reviews are either incented and/or they had an extremely positive or extremely negative experience. Unbiased qualitative research can ensure your organization has the full story.
Challenge Preconceived Notions
It’s natural to develop assumptions based on recognizable data patterns. However, human behavior doesn’t always align with your predictions and there may be more to the story that requires further exploration. By hearing directly from customers, you can test whether your interpretations align with reality. Challenging your preconceived notions can also prevent costly mistakes based on false theories about what the data reveals.
Better Serve a Specific Audience
Qualitative research can also help you unpack the unique needs and preferences of a target group. If you want to successfully speak to a specific segment, it helps to go beyond general trends and break down the granular factors that influence their purchasing decisions. While some things may be out of your control, hearing directly from the target audience can reveal nuanced perspectives and uncover gaps in your strategy that can be improved by fine-tuning your products or messaging. Without those qualitative insights, you might simply give up on trying to win their business or make choices that won’t yield the desired results.
Case Study #1: What Qualitative Research Revealed About the Shapes of Pimple Patches
New Perspectives recently conducted a study for a company marketing a brand of pimple patches that illustrates the importance of qualitative data. The client had done some social media mining that seemed to suggest customers were drawn to a competitor brand due to their sticker-like shape and fun appearance. Believing this hypothesis, the client considered experimenting with different patch shapes.
However, once we listened to customers, we quickly realized that the popularity of the competitive brand had nothing to do with the shape. In fact, it was a bit of a drawback. Customers were actually drawn to the brand because of social media influencers and friends, as well as the discrete packaging.
Without this research, the client may have wasted time and resources testing different shapes, rather than focusing on improving the attributes that actually appealed to customers. This insight would not have been gleaned without seeing, hearing, and understanding the consumer.
Case Study #2: How We Reinvigorated Wine Sales By Speaking to Real Customers
Another fantastic example of the importance of qualitative research is a study New Perspectives conducted for a client who markets wine. Sales and secondary data suggested younger consumers preferred hard seltzer over wine, which explained the sluggish sales among this key demographic. However, a combination of virtual shop-alongs and home interviews revealed that there was more to the story.
While the hard seltzer hypothesis was partially true, we discovered there were other elements at play that our client could strategically address. For instance, the relevance of the branding and label had a big impact on buying decisions. A lack of sufficient POS information about what to expect from various wines was another impediment where there was room for improvement. With this information in hand, the client was able to address these weaknesses and reinvigorate wine sales among this target audience.
Unlock Qualitative Insights to Supplement Your Data
While metrics and numbers are undeniably important for understanding your business, it’s equally critical to delve into the ‘softer’ side of data. This balance is key to confirming the accuracy of your hypotheses, whether they’re accurate based solely on metrics or require some adjustment.
If you need help conducting qualitative research studies or determining the best way to use the information to support strategic business decisions, New Perspectives can help. Contact us today to get more out of your data.
