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Why Mobile Ethnography Beats Big Data in Capturing the “Why”

In over 20 years of working with some of the world’s most valuable companies and recognized brands, Fabric founder Tom Bassett has learned that mobile video surveys are the best way to capture a consumer’s emotions and authentic insights into how they make decisions.

The human mind is complex, and when it comes to making key decisions for your organization— whether in launching a new product or crafting messaging for an ad campaign— the goal is to dive deep into the mind of the consumer. Big data can give you the “what,” but it pretty much stops there. It’s important to uncover the “why.” Why do consumers feel a certain way? Why do they make decisions?

This is where mobile video surveys come in. When people record their responses on video, letting you peek into their cabinets, closets, and pantries, you’ll both hear and see the deep layers of “why.” First-person accounts provide the rich qualitative data you need. You’ll see it for yourself; when you go back and watch the videos, gleaning insights and analyzing results, you’ll notice that major cues often lie in the most subtle places.

Plus, video is a great tool for presenting your findings back internally. You’ll get your colleagues’ attention, and it’s an effective way to share the authentic human story, capturing sight, sound, and motion, and fostering empathy with consumers. It’s worth it to take the time to curate a “findings” reel to include with your presentation; it really takes things to the next level.

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8 Ways Brands Can Attract and Keep Millennial Customers

What makes a positive shopping experience for Millennials? We ran a mobile video ethnography study to better understand this, and we learned 8 ways brands can make their consumer experience resonate with Millennials. Hint: Personal connection lives on!

Research Objective

Better understand what makes a positive shopping experience for Millennials.

Target Audience

National US sample

16 states

29 cities

Skew female

Millennials (18-34 yrs old)

Mix of socio-economic background & ethnicities

We Learned

Millennials are actually channel-agnostic when it comes to shopping, and retailers need to maximize each platform to build a lasting relationship with this generation. This report highlights eight things you can do to make your consumer experience resonate with Millennials.

In-store is the ultimate relationship opportunity

Millennials (perhaps molded by the customization of online shopping) are impressed by personalized service in store. It’s by far the biggest opportunity for retailers to grow relationships and loyalty by going the extra mile. Your reps are everything here.

I was buying a pair of shoes that were rubber Converse shoes; they were very unique shoes. I bought the shoes that day with a salesperson, and I went back a month later and the salesperson remembered me and she said, “Oh, hi Kendall. How did those shoes work out?”?
I was really overwhelmed and completely impressed that she remembered my name, and then also what specific shoes I had purchased a month back.

~kendall A, 21, Washngton

I struck up a conversation with the [Gamestop] employee that was there – very friendly, very down-to-earth – and he approached me more like a friend instead of a customer. Within a few questions he got to know exactly what my interests were. He was really looking to give me the most for my money, for my time.

~ Markos U, 22, Florida

“Oops” is actually an opportunity!

Acknowledge and fix mistakes immediately, going above and beyond with surprises or bonuses. It’s a great low-cost opportunity to drive loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals, personalize experiences, and build the relationship.

On their website they have a no-return policy. But the customer-service agent was what really impressed me, because she completely understood where I was coming from, and that they want to give me the best product out there.
And so she said, “Listen, I completely understand where you’re coming from. Sorry about that. I hope it never happens again. We’re going to gladly send you a new pair.” That really just blew me away.

~ Zack P, 20, Michigan

I contacted the people [ on Kickstarter] whom I just funded. And they said that my payment went through three times, so they ended up refunding me the first two payments. And they’re going to send a little additional gift to apologize… So I let all my friends know about how reputable the customer service was on Kickstarter.

High touch isn’t too much

Updates, updates, updates make Millennials feel fulfilled, valued, and part of the process (as long as they can opt out).

 
t arrived in two days and I was like, Holy crap.” [The company’s website] kept me updated. It texted me every time. It went from California to Colorado to my home in Orlando.
Every time it landed somewhere, they text with updates saying, “Hey, your package is here. Don’t worry. It’ll be here on these days.” It got there in two days and that was astounding.

~ Ernesto S, 18, Florida

[Modcloth.com] has a thing where it will say ‘coming soon’ on a new item, and you’re able to sign up on an alert list so that when the item becomes available, they email you immediately because a lot of their items sell out pretty quickly on the site.
I got an email and I was able to order it within the first ten minutes of it becoming available, and got it within three days, and it was perfect. I loved it. their service where they alert you when things are ready is a great bonus of the site.

Earn lifelong relationships today with the wow factor

Millennials are savvy and sometimes jaded consumers; they’ve seen it all. Stop them in their tracks with something new or unexpected, and loyalty is yours.

I purchased a single-serve blender on Amazon.com but the item was defective so I returned the item and they sent me a replacement blender. When I tried the replacement blender, it didn’t work either. So, I contacted Amazon.com and they apologized for the defective item, they replaced the item, and on top of that, they allowed me to keep a portion of the defective item.
Since then, I’ve been a loyal customer of Amazon.com. They have excellent service.

~ Lynn V, 22, Ohio

Always-on availability wins

Millennials think your store is open 24/7 and, thanks to Wikipedia, expect all the info they need instantly. Service in-store and online should match or exceed that expectation, including reps always available for chat.

I was looking at an item online from the Chaco website and it really just impressed me because the people online were super nice.
it was cool that even though customers had bad experiences, Chaco – the website and organization – would actually reply back and say, “Hey, really sorry that happened.Call our number and we can help you.

~ Alisha J, 21, Louisiana

Do them a solid and they’ll WOM you up!

Millennials reward retailers that “understand them” with immediate, glowing, word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals to their social circles. Retailers should consider this praise priceless, as Millennials are generally skeptical consumers and value highest the opinions of those close to them.

My A.C. went out and, as you can tell, I have a child. It was very hot in the house. It was a company called Associated Heating & Air; I thought they did an excellent job. I’ve told multiple people about them.
They were out here within a couple of hours of us calling them. They were the most reasonably priced company, and they were straightforward with everything.

~ Hannah B, 27, Georgia

Added-value service builds loyalty

Extra service and expertise beyond the sale builds equity with Millennials through goodwill, and boosts long-term loyalty and those coveted WOM referrals.

It turns out the guy couldn’t fix [my phone], but he gave it back to me and actually didn’t charge me when I was expecting to be charged. It was like $150. But, it was just great. He was helpful and gave me some tips on getting it replaced because I had to get a whole new phone.
But, it was great. I told my family and friends about it, and I will always go back to them for help with that kind of thing.

~ Amanda D, 29, California

I went in [to Micro Center], and the service was amazing. They took me to exactly where I needed to be, didn’t try to force me to buy one of the more expensive [computer cooling pads].
They told me everything I needed to know about what cooling pads can do, and that I didn’t need something super over-the-top for my problem.

Stand for something and Millennials will stand with you

Cause-marketing builds Millennials’ sense of your brand’s identity, appeals to their inclinations toward social good, and is a big opportunity to broaden engagement. However, your core offering needs to deliver beyond the good deed.

What they are is an organization that works with charities to do what I love to do, and that’s change the world. I found out about them through Twitter – somebody had retweeted a link – and it had a picture of an awesome looking watch.
It was in orange; it looked so cool. I was like, “Man, I’ve got to be a part of this.”

~ Joshua B, 24, Georgia

I just really love Chacos.com, and I tell my friends about it all the time because the product lasts. It’s made in the U.S. which supports local businesses, and that’s what I’m all about, especially when buying products. And they’re just a really great community and are very people-oriented.

Conclusions and Implications

Millennials don’t necessarily prefer any one channel for shopping, and retailers should take advantage of the unique opportunities that various platforms afford them with this audience to build a multifaceted brand experience. In-store experiences present unique opportunities for personalization, the wow factor, and added-value moments; online experiences provide always-on service possibilities, and hightouch that scales.

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How to Maximize the Impact of Your Mobile Video Ethnography

In this guide, gleaned from 20+ years of experience with world-class brands like Nike, Sonos and Google, Tom Bassett shares his tips for making the most of your mobile video surveys, offering best practices for pattern finding, bucketing results, identifying the overarching story, and sharing results in a captivating way.

At Fabric, we’ve often trumpeted the many applications of mobile video surveys. Whether you’re at an agency, testing creative before a pitch, or you’re on an R&D team conducting need-finding research, mobile video surveys provide you with insight you can hang your hat on. With mobile video surveys the consumer, uninhibited by the influence of contrasting opinions in a focus group or by the watchful eye of a moderator, gladly unload their honest, nuanced opinions in digestible slices of recorded video. But, how exactly do you get those golden nuggets of insight? And after you’ve collected all the responses, how do you organize and digest the data in order to inform your team to make the best possible decisions?

In this guide, we define the best practices when creating a mobile video survey; from ideal question length to how long each response should be, you’ll leave knowing the specifics of how to create a winning survey that nets you the highest quality consumer insight. Then, we highlight the best methods of how to organize all the videos and opinions, extracting the overarching story that informs the best course of action for your company.

Craft the Perfect Survey

You have your research objective, the target demographic/ geographic locations you want to research, and the methodology you’re using (mobile video surveys).

Write a Screener

Keep it simple. Especially engaging consumers over mobile device, you’ll want them to be able to complete the screener without a great deal of scrolling or you run the risk of losing them or skewing their responses. All respondents have a 1 minute profile video, so when we/you are reviewing applicants and aren’t sure which respondent to accept or reject, watching the profile video can help raise confidence levels that the applicant being accepted is the best possible choice.

How Many Questions?

Our platform allows up to 10 questions per respondent. Each answer is limited to 60 seconds. So a 15 person study would yield 150 x one minute video clips and accompanying transcripts. The logic to the one minute answer is that in our experience, if someone doesn’t answer the question in the first minute, they will likely not answer it period. Similarly, by way of comparison, in a Fabric study, each respondent provides up to 10 minutes of content; in a focus group containing 8 people for 90 minute, you will be lucky to get 10 minutes of dedicated content from each participant (based on a moderator who is militant about controlling the conversation….and those moderators are few and far between). Lastly, one minute packets of video move seamlessly across the web, and are quick/easy to review and digest.

Transcripts

Either by using a service like Fabric or going through the videos yourself and taking notes, it is important to keep a written record of what consumers are saying in all of their responses. This will be very helpful when organizing and sharing your research. Having the text opens you up to culling the data with keyword searches, word clouds, and the like.

Review Your Results

Identify the Patterns and Themes

Pinpoint what people are identifying with. What are the recurring problems, what are the issues they are having with the brand or the experience? Keep thinking about these themes in terms of how they relate to your brand. Focus in on five to ten patterns or themes; more than that can prove unwieldy when sharing your results across a company.

Recognize the Original Insights

Within every mobile video survey, there’s always an opinion or takeaway that you didn’t expect or anticipate. Maybe a consumer has outlined a novel way to use your product. Maybe they have a unique insight about a commercial you shared with them. Whatever it is, these insights are valuable and are just as capable of lending credence to your ultimate strategy.

Organize Your Results

Organizing your patterns and themes into two buckets keeps everything neat.

Problems

Presenting problems is a relevant way to share your insights back within an organization. There are occasions when the organization itself is an obstacle, especially if there’s a strong belief that the target or product is already 100% percent understood. After your mobile video survey, when you come back and say, “Here are some real issues and problems,” combining that with videos of your target consumer backing you up, organizations tend to become very engaged.

Opportunities

You’ve locked down your problem set. Now, focus on the opportunities your research yielded. Is there an opportunity for brand extension? Can you refine an existing idea? Develop a new idea? Listen carefully to your consumers. Developing an empathy for their perspective will ofen open your eyes to new avenues you may have not explored yet.

Identify the Story

The third thing you should do, and probably the most important and difficult, is to identify the overarching story of your research. Without the story, your problems and opportunities have no focal point, no frame of reference from which to engender action. Look through everything you’ve collected to this point, and articulate the story in one sentence. Once you’ve nailed down the story, figure out what the chapters are; what are the building blocks that bring that story to life? What insights – what consumer quotes – shape each chapter? Figure out how those chapters lead to the punctuation point of the entire story, and you have arrived at what you’re trying to teach people.

Write a Paper Edit

You could walk into your next meeting with all of this insight and share it verbally, but that would defeat the purpose and beauty of using mobile video surveys. Working off of the transcripts of each respondent, extract quotes and lay them out in a “paper edit.” This refers to the written outline of your story, which serves as a blueprint for creating a final curated video. Make sure the story logic flows before handing it off to your editing team. Be mindful that every quote you’re using tells your research’s story in a compelling and genuine way.

STORY: Millennial’s loyalty is fleeting and transactional; they switch from brand to brand, and they expect more incentives to maintain their loyalty.

Sharing Results

Edit a Video

A two- to three- minute video comprised of the footage of your consumers giving their unfiltered opinions will bring your story to life, and deeply support your proposed strategy. Stakeholders in an organization will relish the opportunity to see their actual consumer in her environment or out on location, explaining how she sees something, how she uses something, what the problems and issues are, what the areas for opportunity are. She might open a package, demonstrate how she uses her laptop, or show what she has in her closet. This footage makes the whole story so much more visceral and real for the people with whom you’re sharing the story. Whether or not you have a team of editors, there are some tricks to creating an engaging video. Avoid long clips within your video. Anything over ten seconds is a long time for a cut. Don’t use thirty-second clips, or you run the risk of your audience falling asleep. Adding production elements like title cards and B-roll (secondary footage that plays over a consumer quote) will only make your story more engaging.

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Pushing Boundaries: 3 Creative Uses of Mobile Video Surveys

We often say that the limits of mobile video ethnography coincide with the limits of your imagination. At Fabric, our clients are continually discovering new options to capture customer truths. Here are three creative uses of mobile video ethnography that prove the limits are truly endless. Check out the video here.

Mobile video ethnography has redefined qualitative research, providing an effective and credible methodology for gleaning rich consumer insights and creating empathy with customers. For more than 20 years, Fabric founder Tom Bassett has worked in this field with clients across many industries, from software to tech to retail. He’s discovered creative ways that mobile video surveys can reach deeper into the minds and hearts of consumers; it’s market research that simply can’t be captured any other way. Here are 3 creative uses of mobile qual that show the limits are endless.

Need Finding

Mobile video qualitative research is enabling entirely new methodologies that were previously unavailable, pushing through previous boundaries of what research design can consider. And it’s working across many different industries. For example, when Skullcandy needed to test new packaging for their famous line of headphones, their aim was understand 1-on-1 how their target audience felt about prototype packaging, because headphones are not a group buying decision or an occasion where consumers seek sales assistance on the retail floor. By embedding photos of the proposed packaging side by side and in a retail environment, Skullcandy was able to recreate the purchasing decision in the minds of their targets, providing real, unbiased feedback on packaging design and messaging.

In addition, when DINE needed to make a snap decision on whether to introduce a B2B food service brand to consumers, they turned to mobile video surveys. The learning DINE was able to glean from the videos — from consumers’ facial expressions to their comments on the taste profile of the product — provided just what they needed to make the changes necessary to launch their new product successfully.

Package Testing

As a packaging feedback mechanism, mobile video surveys can help clients test packaging in several ways: (1) Consumers can react to PDFs of design concepts (2) They can share what works or doesn’t work about current packaging (3) Products can be shipped to consumers, who then share thoughts as they unbox the product. Not only do mobile video surveys easily allow consumers to invite us into their homes, but they also enable your team to accompany the consumer to the store on a shop-a-long, or anywhere else.

Prompting consumers to head to the store, we had them show us the dental hygiene aisle from their P.O.V. while talking us through what packaging stood out most to them, and why. It wasn’t just their words that had an impact, it was their facial expressions and other nonverbal cues. The results? Using this data, the client was able to make effective packaging changes to ensure they were effectively reaching their target audience.

Comms Testing

Mobile video surveys can enable reactions to PDFs, images, videos, and links to web sites. Consumers open file (option to password protect it), view the concepts, and provide reactions by recorded video on their mobile device. You can glean insights as to whether your key message is resonating with your target demographic, or what consumers believe is the overall brand perception. An added benefit of comms testing with mobile video surveys is that consumers are engaged in a one-on-none environment, most closely mirroring how consumers would experience marketing and advertising in actuality — alone. When outside influences are minimized, consumers tend to respond more authentically to your stimulus, and that authenticity is evidenced by their body language, facial expressions and context. Not only does this facilitate the authenticity, it also captures it.

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5 Ways Mobile Video Ethnography Redefines Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is key when it comes to understanding customer truths, and an innovative tool opens new doors into consumer minds: mobile video ethnography. mindswarms founder Tom Bassett details the ways mobile video research re-energizes traditional qual, opening up new methodologies previously unavailable to researchers.

“Basically they would think that maybe I was racist because I’m speaking out about it [police brutality]. It’s scary that there’s a lot of people out there that can’t even go to the store at night without worrying about dying, and there’s people who can get pulled over, and pull a gun out, and maybe because of their skin color or their background they won’t even die…”

Recently, mindswarms founder Tom Bassett moderated a panel of leading research professionals about the unique value of mobile video qualitative research. By the end of the discussion, everyone agreed that qualitative research is far from dead. The tech world may be enamored with big data and its focus on “what” is happening, but there’s no better tool than qualitative research for answering the question of “why.” Everyone has vast amounts of data at their fingertips, but without qual, the picture is incomplete.

TV re-positioned radio and newspaper when it was introduced. Similarly, every time a new type of research is introduced, it repositions all other existing methodologies. Big Data forced the repositioning of qualitative research.
How should it respond? Is there even a role for qualitative research in the future, and if so, how should it be defined? A lot of senior marketers and researchers feel focus groups are dead; but mobile qualitative research changes everything.

~ Tom Bassett – Founder & CEO – mindswarms

Here are 5 ways mobile video ethnography is redefining qual:

1. Pushing Creative Boundaries

Mobile video qualitative research is enabling entirely new methodologies that were previously unavailable, pushing through previous boundaries of what research design can consider. And it’s working across many different industries. For example, when Skullcandy needed to test new packaging for their famous line of headphones, their aim was understand 1-on-1 how their target audience felt about prototype packaging, because headphones are not a group buying decision or an occasion where consumers seek sales assistance on the retail floor. By embedding photos of the proposed packaging side by side and in a retail environment, Skullcandy was able to recreate the purchasing decision in the minds of their targets, providing real, unbiased feedback on packaging design and messaging.

In addition, when DINE needed to make a snap decision on whether to introduce a B2B food service brand to consumers, they turned to mobile video surveys. The learning DINE was able to glean from the videos — from consumers’ facial expressions to their comments on the taste profile of the product — provided just what they needed to make the changes necessary to launch their new product successfully.

2. “Speed” and “Quality Recruit” are no longer at odds

Technology is accelerating the already high-pressure pace qualitative market researchers work at, and great recruitment can be achieved at a faster pace now, making qualitative research more relevant with business decision makers. Focus groups can be time intensive because of recruitment time required (seems like two weeks at a minimum). Conversely, mobile video qualitative research can turn around national recruitment within days – sometimes hours – while maintaining quality recruits. You no longer have to schedule a visit to a consumer’s house; with mobile video, you are virtually in their environment, instantly.

3. Internal Teams Can Hear and See Consumers In Situ

Having to trudge from city to city with a team of people to do market research can be avoided by bringing consumer video to cross-functional teams digitally. This is invaluable, especially when a quick turnaround is necessary. For example, four days away from a pitch with a major national bank, BBDO turned to mobile video surveys to amplify their pitch . The result? They won.

4. The Feedback is Intensely Personal

The speed, quality, and visceral nature of mobile video qualitative research creates a powerful way for researchers to re-insert themselves into management’s decision-making conversations. Conducting qualitative research takes skill: Combing through the videos, extracting quotes, formulating themes, and picking out patterns. Qualitative researchers are familiar with this, and since a typical mobile video survey nets a client over 90 minutes of video to analyze for insights, the result is a compelling story; the perfect way to share a memorable story with your colleagues.

5. Researchers Can Impact Company Decisions

The speed, quality, and visceral nature of mobile video qualitative research creates a powerful way for researchers to re-insert themselves into management’s decision-making conversations. Conducting qualitative research takes skill: Combing through the videos, extracting quotes, formulating themes, and picking out patterns. Qualitative researchers are familiar with this, and since a typical mobile video survey nets a client over 90 minutes of video to analyze for insights, the result is a compelling story; the perfect way to share a memorable story with your colleagues.

Conclusion

A surge in the importance of mobile video qualitative research is occurring because it redefines the role of qualitative research in the overall research process. Faster and more affordable than traditional focus groups, mobile qual doesn’t sacrifice quality recruitment; it makes recruitment even easier, allowing researchers to use it more often. That coupled with the fact mobile qual gives clients access to the consumer at the moment of truth (in the store, at home, at work, on the go), you have a value proposition unlike anything else on the market.

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Why You Need to Use Video in Your Market Research Presentation

We’ve been there: presenting research insights to a room of C-Level executives who are distracted by the latest crisis. Then, you start a video - phones go down, heads lift, and suddenly you’re Sinatra with a microphone. Check out the reasons you need to use video to get your audience’s attention, which can ultimately impact management decisions. You can watch the video here.

Do you want to take your market research presentation to the next level? If yes, you’re in the right place. Tom Bassett, founder of Fabric, has spent more than 20 years crafting and analyzing mobile video surveys with some of the world’s most valuable companies and brands, and he’s got the inside scoop on how to present your market research insights in the most compelling way possible.

The answer isn’t as complicated as you might think: Use video!

Mobile video studies have redefined qual because they’re an engaging and credible way to bring valuable insights back to your organization or client. They offer something agile, scalable, economical, and sticky. As in, they truly engage the end user in terms of learning. This has everything to do with the sensory experience video offers; it’s incredible what you can see visually, beyond the respondent’s’ words when you peek into their closets, pantries, dens, home offices, fridges and more. There are subtle cues in consumers’ body language, facial expressions, and physical environments that convey key information about what’s going on inside their minds. And this is what you need! It’s an authenticity you can’t get anywhere else, and it’s one of the most compelling reasons mobile video surveys have revitalized the qualitative research industry.

Mobile video studies have redefined qual because they’re an engaging and credible way to bring valuable insights back to your organization or client. They offer something agile, scalable, economical, and sticky. As in, they truly engage the end user in terms of learning. This has everything to do with the sensory experience video offers; it’s incredible what you can see visually, beyond the respondent’s’ words when you peek into their closets, pantries, dens, home offices, fridges and more. There are subtle cues in consumers’ body language, facial expressions, and physical environments that convey key information about what’s going on inside their minds. And this is what you need! It’s an authenticity you can’t get anywhere else, and it’s one of the most compelling reasons mobile video surveys have revitalized the qualitative research industry.