As a qualie it will come as no surprise that I love designing, moderating and analysing focus groups.
But for certain marketing challenges I find myself suggesting online communities at the heart of the approach, especially longitudinal studies needing to collect detail in the moment and / or requiring co-creation and iteration.
Recent communities have helped me uncover insights such as…
- How people use different news sources on different occasions – e.g. following a news source on Twitter on a smartphone for breaking news before turning to a print version of another news source the next day for a more considered report
- How sub-branding should be look on a website to be effective yet avoid outshining the parent brand - by retesting designs over time through individual response and creative group discussion
- How professionals’ behaviours change during the year – by monitoring them over time and creating a detailed picture of how – for example - services like seminars / client connect sessions are deployed during industry lull periods about seasonal topics
As we play out ever more of our lives online, on the right challenge, it feels fitting for research to change alongside the behaviours we are looking to understand.
If you have a challenge that you can’t unlock soley with focus groups or depths, it might be time to try online.
Anna Parry
Want to chat further? Please drop me a note on anna@redblue.co.uk or call 07926 856225.